
If birds descended from dinosaurs, why are they warm-blooded? (2010) - networked
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/11/23/3073903.htm
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mjn
This review article may also be of interest, "The evolution of concepts on the
evolution of endothermy in birds and mammals" (2004):
[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pawet_Koteja/publicatio...](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pawet_Koteja/publication/216812468_The_evolution_of_concepts_on_the_evolution_of_endothermy_in_birds_and_mammals/links/0deec52e0e3159ee5f000000.pdf)
[pdf]

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joe_the_user
Interestingly enough, some fish also have the ability to heat parts of their
bodies and the opah/moohfish seems to be fully endothermic.

See: [http://io9.gizmodo.com/behold-the-first-fully-warm-
blooded-f...](http://io9.gizmodo.com/behold-the-first-fully-warm-blooded-fish-
known-to-scien-1704472418)

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hoodoof
Because dinosaurs were warm blooded.

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openstack
Then why did they go extinct?

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hoodoof
Due to a gigantic asteroid strike. Interestingly, crocodiles, which are cold
blooded creatures, survived OK.

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MrQuincle
This article doesn't make the connection, but it's an interesting hypothesis
to assume that all cold blooded creatures that were big couldn't maintain
their body temperature after a drop in temperature from a comet impact, but
that creatures that were small already were better in coping with fluctuations
because of their smaller size.

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greggman
The thought the latest theory was the entire earth was engulfed in flames from
the impact and killed almost everything except stuff underground / underwater

[http://www.radiolab.org/story/dinopocalypse/](http://www.radiolab.org/story/dinopocalypse/)

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kbart
I didn't listen to this audio, but if this were true, shouldn't geologist have
already discovered a layer of ashes spanning the whole world?

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greggman
they did.

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ascotan
This presupposes that dinosaurs are cold-blooded which apparently is a matter
of dispute: [http://www.livescience.com/51162-dinosaurs-warm-blooded-
grow...](http://www.livescience.com/51162-dinosaurs-warm-blooded-growth-
rates.html)

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dragonwriter
No, in fact, the whole point is discussion of the evolution of warm-
bloodedness among dinosaurs. Are you just guessing what the content might be
based on the headline and reacting based on that guess?

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mchahn
> the whole point is discussion of the evolution of warm-bloodedness among
> dinosaurs.

And the question of whether dinosaurs were really cold-blooded is obviously a
part of that discussion.

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YeGoblynQueenne
>> "What we can see in the fossil record is a number of bird-like theropods
with hair-like structures and simple downy feathers. Being mostly small
creatures [they must have generated their own body heat] and evolved hairs and
feathers to help retain the body heat they generated," says Willis.

Is it possible that feathers evolved first, for some other reason,
particularly mating displays, and, once evolved, opened the way to endothermy?

[Disclaimer: I'm completely not a biologist at all, so this is probably a
stupid question, but I seriously wonder nonetheless]

Edit: Funny typo in the article. The phylogenetic tree of dinosaurs says:
"Theropods (meating-eating dinosaurs)".

Aye. They're dinosaurs that meet you and eat you.

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cyberrod411
"descended from" is kind of a common misconception about evolution. Birds and
Dinosaurs have common ancestors. Earlier researchers thought they were closely
related to reptiles, but more recent research has shown they have a lot more
in common with birds.

It's still somewhat of a mystery as to why dinosaurs went extincted. A very
large asteroid did hit the Earth at the end of the Cretaceous. But there was a
lot of other thing happening on Earth at that time. Pangea was breaking up and
major waterways/oceans were opening up at that time, so there was likely major
climate changes occurring, incearse Volcanism, etc..

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Qantourisc
I suspect it's because birds fly high and in cold wind, they had to evolve, or
they would crash down like a frozen cube (at the very least stiff muscles and
wings are not beneficial to flight). Quite the pressure from survival of the
fittest.

