life science
Turkeys have some fearsome
members in their family tree
G
iant dinosaurs
may have gone
extinct 65 million
years ago, but
their descendants
still roam the Earth. In fact,
you can spot one when you sit
down to Thanksgiving dinner.
It's the turkey on your table!
Turkeys and other birds
are the closest living
relatives of fierce dinos like
Tyrannosaurus rex. The
animals may look nothing
alike, but they actually share
many physical features
inside their bodies.
Paleontologists first started
digging up and studying
dinosaur bones in the late
1800s. "They noticed that
a lot of the meat-eating
dinosaurs' skeletons looked
very similar to bird skeletons,"
says Matt Wedel. He studies
dinosaurs at Western
University of Health Sciences
in Pomona, California.
Since then, scientists have
found even more evidence of
a close relationship between
dinosaurs and birds.
8
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
Turkey Tradition
It's a holiday tradition for
two people to play tug-of-war
with a turkey's wishbone. The
one who snaps off the bigger
piece gets to make a wish.
The odd shape of a turkey's
wishbone makes it special.
"Humans have two collarbones
separated on either side of our
chest," says Wedel. "In birds,
those two collarbones grew
together in a V-shape. That's
the wishbone." This bone is
important for flight—serving
as support for a bird's wings.
Paleontologists once thought
only birds had wishbones. Now
they know that the V-shaped
bone actually dates back more
than 150 million years. Both T.
rex and Velociraptorhaá them
too. These dinosaurs couldn't
fly, though. The wishbones
likely served to support
their arms when the fierce
predators gripped their prey.
Birds of a Feather
Dinosaurs share many other
similarities in bone structure
with birds. But it might surprise
):•:•:•:#:«
1
you to learn they had similar
coverings too. In recent decades,
paleontologists have uncovered
evidence that show that many
dinosaurs sported feathers!
Many birds, including
turkeys, have a row of bumps on
the outside of the ulna, or elbow
bone. Feathers attach to the
bone at these bumps. But this
feature isn't unique to today's
2013
.
••»•
ÜVl'v
\
www.scholastic.com
/superscience
» ¿k
birds. The bumps are also
found on fossils, or preserved
remains, of Velociraptors.
"They had wing-type
feathers on their arms," says
Wedel. "If you saw a raptor
today, you wouldn't think
XDh look, there's a feathered
dinosaur.' You'd think, 'That's
the scariest bird I've ever seen!'"
—Natalie Smith
WISHBONE: Giant dinosaur
skeletons and modern birds share
this key component of flight.
WWW.SCH0LASTIC.COM/SUPERSCIENCE
Copyright of Scholastic SuperScience is the property of Scholastic Inc. and its content may
not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's
express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for
individual use.