What do Tyrannosaurus rex and Erithacus rubecula (the common European Robin) have in common? Much more than you might realize - for the robin in your garden is a modern dinosaur - albeit a small one, but perhaps just as aggressive as its distant giant relative. The origins of the birds has until now been one of the great enigmas of evolution. Fossils rarely show soft tissues such as hair and feathers, the crucial proof needed to find the missing links in the evolutionary trail from reptile to bird. Until the discovery seven years ago of the first dinosaur from the fine-grained slate of the Lianoning Province of China, there was no hard evidence to prove the theory that birds came from a family of feathered dinosaurs. Now it is believed that feathers were relatively common among the meat-eating dinosaurs. It is even thought possible that Tyrannosaurus rex may even have had fluffy chicks! This text explores the ever-growing evidence supporting the evolution of dinosaurs to birds. Dinosaur expert Angela Milner looks at the astounding fossil "feathery" dinosaurs from China and the bird fossils from other sights around the world, to take us on a journey from those dinosaurs to the birds we see today. Looking at the people involved and the debates that ensued, this should be an exciting little book packed with information on every page and illustrated throughout.

 

There are 64 pages in this book. This book was published 2002 by The Natural History Museum .

Dr Angela Milner is one of the world's leading authorities on dinosaurs and was the scientific adviser to The Natural History Museum's dinosaur exhibition. Tim Gardom is a freelance writer. He wrote the storyline for the new dinosaur exhibition.

This book has the following chapters: Introduction; Ancient wing; Enter the 'raptors'; Feathers from China; Plumes, fans, feathers and fluffy coats; Feathers and flight paths; Early birds; Time and place Author biography = Dr Angela Milner is Deputy Keeper of the Department of Palaeontology, Head of the Fossil Vertebrates Division, and dinosaur researcher at The Natural History Museum, London. She has written several books on dinosaurs including co-authoring 'The Natural History Museum Book of Dinosaurs', and has collected fossils from as far away as China and the Sahara Desert.