Did they determine this by comparing what DNA fragments they’ve managed to recover, or by physical skeletal structure similarities, or what?
I’m no expert in the field, but I just don’t see it.
Did they determine this by comparing what DNA fragments they’ve managed to recover, or by physical skeletal structure similarities, or what?
I’m no expert in the field, but I just don’t see it.
That’s a mental shortcut, the birds came from dinosaurs, the birds cladistically ARE dinosaurs; birds, dinosaurs and crocodilians are archosaurs, but birds are closest dinosaurs relatives
Okay, gotcha.
Still, maybe I’m a dumdum, but aren’t alligators and crocodiles and similar species mighty close to the ancient dinosaurs?
Edit: Are those closer or further away from dinosaur relatives than birds? Either way, what makes one group of creatures closer to dinosaurs than the other?
Yup, that’s what I said, crocodilians and birds
Oh shit, my bad. I just woke up like 30 minutes ago, my eyes are still adjusting back to my glasses LMFAO!
As for what makes some clades closer to ones than others, we know when they appeared in fossil records relative to each other