Do you know what Archaeopteryx is?

Notes

Archaeopteryx shares unique features with theropods.

Theropods were ancestors of birds.

The birds were just a branch on the dinosaur’s tree of life.

Birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs, many of their characteristics have changed.

Theropods are closely related to birds.

One of the evidence that birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs is the changes in the bones of the dinosaurs that evolved into birds.

Birds after Archaeopteryx continued to evolve in some of the same directions as  their theropod ancestors.

Glossary:

Paleontologists - a person who studies fossils.

Archaeopteryx - the oldest known fossil bird.

Carnivorous - a meat eater.

Theropods - a carnivorous dinosaur group and ranged from small to very large.

Characteristics - a feature belonging to a person to identify them.

Vertebrate - an animal of a large group that has mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes.

Maniraptora - a clade of coelurosaurian dinosaurs.

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Inquiry Questions:

1. Where / What was the first bird fossil found?
2. What clues has the bird fossils given us about its environment?
3. Were there other fossils of bird species found?
4. Who was the ancestor of archaeopteryx?
5. What evidence have been discovered about archaeopteryx?

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Answers:

1. It was found in Southern Germany, Meyer.
2. Its environment was a limestone quarry in valleys.
3. They found ten other species of birds.
4. Maniraptora was it’s ancestor.
5. The discovery of the fossil of archaeopteryx.

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WALT understand about the origin of birds through the Inquiry process.
I know I can do this when I make and answer Inquiry questions about where birds come from.