It’s an oft-told story: A group of kids have visited a zoo and sit in a ‘theatre’ looking down into a pit-like stage.
The zookeeper grabs the microphone and tells the children they’re about to meet the closest related animal to the dinosaurs.
The kids look to a gate on the other side of the pit, waiting apprehensively to see what’s behind it.
Explainer: Rewriting the history of feathered dinosaurs
The gate lifts, and out runs a chicken, to much laughter and applause.
Yes, variants of this story have abounded for years.
But are dinosaurs really just big, ancient birds?
On this episode of Huh? Science Explained, Evrim Yazgin takes us back to the time of the dinosaurs to get a picture of how these magnificent beasts evolved and what eventually happened to them.
Huh? Science Explained is a LiSTNR production.
Listen to more episodes of Huh? Science Explained
Originally published by Cosmos as Are dinosaurs REALLY birds?
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