Book Details
Orange Code:47777
Paperback:448 pages
Publications:
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Sections:
1. Introduction: the Deep Evolutionary History of Modern Birds2. The Contribution of Paleontology to Ornithology”: the Diversity of Modern Birds: Fossils and the Avian Tree of Life3. The Evolution of Key Avian Attributes4. The Future: Conservation and Climate Change
Description:
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Living Dinosaurs offers a snapshot of our current understanding of the origin and evolution of birds. After slumbering for more than a century, avian palaeontology has been awakened by startling new discoveries on almost every continent. Controversies about whether dinosaurs had real feathers or whether birds were related to dinosaurs have been swept away and replaced by new and more difficult questions: How old is the avian lineage? How did birds learn to fly? Which birds survived the great extinction that ended the Mesozoic Era and how did the avian genome evolve? Answers to these questions may help us understand how the different kinds of living birds are related to one another and how they evolved into their current niches. More importantly, they may help us understand what we need to do to help them survive the dramatic impacts of human activity on the planet.
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