When I was a kid, I learned about Dinosaur being “giant lizard”, and it’s been may-be 10 years, that I hear “Birds are dinosaurs”.
I am curious on how the concept evolve, both among paleontologists, and among the general public.
As I understand it, it’s due to advances in the technology that supports biology and paleontology. When all scientists had to go on were fossils, the bone structure of dinosaurs more closely resembled giant lizards, so thats the conclusion they came to. But recent techniques, including genetic analysis on currently existing species, clearly shows the link between birds and dinosaurs. (And, in fact, alligators are more closely related to birds than they are to lizards.)
I found this article which seems to explain it well:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-dinosaurs-shrank-and-became-birds/
It’s really weird to think I put out feed to attract the colorful cousins of alligators to my back yard.
