Birds

It would be impossible to put just one bird in a picture and say it is representative of all the creatures in the Avian family. Bird fossils have been found as far back as the Jurassic Period and there seems to be several different lines of development. In China for example, somewhat modern forms of birds seemed to have existed at the same time as more primitive forms found in Europe. Nothing is more contentious in the field of paleontology than the debate over whether birds evolved from dinosaurs or if there was a common ancestor between the two. The fact that recent discoveries seem to show some of the later Cretaceous dinosaurs had feathers has only bolstered the view that birds came from dinosaurs. It will be some time, however, before any concrete conclusions are drawn.