Coastal Birds Share Nesting Habits of Some Dinosaurs

What do you suppose are the closest dwelling kinfolk to dinosaurs? Possibly alligators? Sharks? Sea turtles? Whereas all of these are shut kinfolk of dinos, none are as shut as birds.

Fashionable birds developed from a bunch, or clade, of two-legged dinosaurs referred to as theropods. This clade is characterised by hole bones and three toes with claws on every limb. One of the best-known theropod might be Tyrannosaurus Rex, nevertheless it was a a lot smaller dinosaur that led scientists to hyperlink theropods and birds.

Within the Sixties, a fossilized dinosaur referred to as the Deinonychus was found. This small, predatory dinosaur had many similarities to birds: the presence of feathers, the general construction of its anatomy, and its pace. However some of the putting finds supporting the evolution of birds from dinosaurs really got here 100 years earlier, with the  discovery of Archaeopteryx in 1861. On the time of its discovery, the bird-like fossil confused archaeologists, as birds weren’t thought to have existed in prehistoric instances. Archaeopteryx existed within the Late Jurassic interval and is sometimes called the earliest chicken, exhibiting key transitional traits between non-avian dinosaurs and true birds. Our information in regards to the evolution of the theropods into trendy birds will proceed to enhance with time.

At Audubon, we examine birds’ nesting habits, habitats, food regimen, and extra to know how we will greatest defend them for generations to return. Check out a few of our focal chicken species and what traits they share with dinosaurs.

Shorebirds

Shorebirds such because the Snowy Plover, Wilson’s Plover, and American Oystercatcher lay their eggs in small depressions within the sand known as scrapes. These shorebirds are additionally identified to nest individually or in small numbers alongside seashores. The presence of vegetation is vital for chicks to remain cool and secure from predators.

A dinosaur nesting floor in Bastus, Spain was discovered to comprise round 300,000 eggs of an unknown dinosaur species that existed within the Late Cretaceous interval. The eggs had been laid in what was as soon as a near-shore setting however is now the Southern Pyrenees Mountains. The dinosaurs had been described to have laid their eggs within the “exposed sandy sediment.” Parts of the eggs had been deposited in a gap dug within the sand, not not like the nest construction of the shorebirds. Every nest contained 1-7 eggs, with the best-preserved specimens present within the holes dug within the sediment. Like colonial seabird species such because the Black Skimmer and Least Tern, the nests had been intently spaced however didn’t overlap one another.

Wading Birds

Wading birds such because the Reddish Egret and the American Flamingo nest in a different way than shorebirds. These two species follow mound nesting. That is the act of making their nest on plant or mud mounds above waterlogged soil or on floating vegetation. These birds have been discovered nesting in environments equivalent to tidal flats, mangrove swamps, marshes, and lagoons.

Like these periaquatic nesters, some members of the clade of dinosaurs referred to as sauropods additionally practiced mound nesting. Sauropods are characterised by “pillar-like” legs, lengthy tails and necks, giant our bodies, and a relatively small head. In style members of the sauropod clade embrace Argentinosaurus, Brachiosaurus, and Diplodocus. A examine analyzing a clutch of eggs laid by an unidentified sauropod species within the Lleida province of Catalonia, Spain offered further perception into the chance of this clade to have nested in periaquatic environments. The fossilized eggs studied had been from the Late Cretaceous interval. Throughout this time, the Lleida province was a tidal flat setting. The porosity of the eggshells studied, the type of the nest that the clutch was found in, and the tidal flat setting had been all similar to the nests of contemporary alligators, crocodiles, and a few birds in periaquatic environments.

Similarities between trendy birds and historical dinosaurs are apparent even by way of the big time hole between their existences. Although the 2 teams of dinosaurs are distinctly totally different, theropods and sauropods each present similarities in nesting habits in comparison with trendy birds. Similar to ornithology, archaeology is an ever-changing area, with new discoveries nonetheless being made. The extra we examine these species, the extra we’ll perceive about their connection.

Further Assets

Enviroliteracy Group. (2025). Did dinosaurs evolve into birds? Enviroliteracy. Did dinosaurs evolve into birds? – The Environmental Literacy Council

Fernandez-Baldor, F.T., (2020). New information on sauropod palaeobiodiversity on the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition of Spain(Burgos). Journal of Iberian Geology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41513-020-00145-w

Lopez-Martinez, N., et al. (2000). Dinosaurs nesting on tidal flats. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-0182(00)00063-8

Sanz, J.L., et al. (2002). Dinosaur nests on the sea shore. https://docta.ucm.es/bitstreams/6207d324-225d-4f16-981d-e919595c12be/download