Has the Missing Link Between Birds and Dinosaurs Finally Been Found?

What did dinosaurs evolve that eventually allowed them to evolve into birds?

Transcript

00:00Despite birds these days being known for flight, that wasn't always the case.

00:08Experts believe that most avians evolved from dinosaurs, and at some point they had to develop

00:12wings and take off.

00:13And now experts say they may have discovered that missing link.

00:16I know what you're thinking.

00:17What about pterosaurs, or these massive prehistoric fliers that took to the skies 200 million

00:22years ago?

00:23Well, it turns out those aren't even classified as dinosaurs, and around 120 million years

00:27ago is when scientists believed the first feathered theropods developed the first wings.

00:31And this creature might hold the clues on how they first developed.

00:34Researchers from the University of Tokyo say that this body part, called the propitagium,

00:39evolved first.

00:40A long tendon stretching from the shoulder to the wrist.

00:42But that body part is soft tissue, meaning it doesn't usually survive the fossilization

00:46process.

00:47However, by looking at how it restricts movement, the paleontologists were able to divine which

00:51creature's body positions were more likely to have been restricted by this body part.

00:55And they believe they have found a common ancestor to all Maniraptorans 150 million

00:59years ago that would have had the tissue structure.

01:02And since we believe that birds evolved from these very theropods, it's not much of a leap

01:05to say they've found the missing link.