most birds don't either, we've bred chickens to do so

Reptiles and dinosaurs both existed before birds and there is fossil evidence showing the divergence of birds from the rest of the dinosaurs. The evolution of dinosaurs is messy and the phylogeny is still somewhat unclear, but we believe they are part of a branch of reptiles called Archosaurs, which includes the most recent common ancestor of crocodiles and birds and all of its descendants. We call this a clade; Dinosaurs are a clade, so their grouping includes their most recent common ancestor and all of its descendants, and this would include birds. This is why birds are, cladistically speaking, Dinosaurs, and therefore Reptiles. I hope this isn't too confusing.

@@mintakamothkind I think you did a good job of it, friend. Clades are typically much easier to explain with a graphic, I've come to find.

I believe that Reptiles as a Clade contains dinosaurs and crocodilians and what not, so therefore birds, being dinosaurs, are also reptiles. It's not that reptiles are descendants of dinosaurs, but dinosaurs are a branch of the reptile Clade.

🤔 Good point ​@ellisnorn259 The biological sciences, especially taxonomy, especially of prehistoric species, is an ever-changing science, as we learn more details about the animals /organisms. All the books I read growing up basically said that dinosaurs are types of reptiles and birds descended from dinosaurs, but are basically their own thing. Also, there were 2 major divisions of dinosaurs: reptile-like dinosaurs and the bird-like reptiles. (Mostly based on hip joints if I remember...) And dinosaurs were a pretty different set of reptiles from the ones we know today. Kind of like cats and anteaters are both mammals... Then we have modern day birds that descended from dinosaur ancestors, & that evolution started when dinosaurs were still around but I think (someone can fact check me on this but) it took quite a long time to get to the toothless fellows we'd all recognize as a "normal" bird.... So now this question & previous answer plus the increasing # of discoveries of feathered dinosaurs has me wondering , Were the"bird-like dinosaurs" actually early birds, just, like, dino- birds? Maybe for millions of years half the dino population were really a bunch of flightless birds running around...... :) Edit: Scrolling down there are at least 2 videos about dinosaurs > birds evolution/ taxonomy. Maybe I'll come back later with some new insights :)

No, they are not. Reptiles evolved first, then dinosaurs. Birds are an offshoot from dinosaurs though, this is true. All dinosaurs are a type of reptile, which is actually the main reason why we know birds are reptiles now, since we know they're dinosaurs now.

​@@jeb197Ironically, birds descended from the "lizard like" dinosaurs (saurischians) rather than the "bird like" dinosaurs (ornithoschians) The groups were named based on the orientation of their pelvis, which superficially resemble today's birds, while saurischian hips appear similar to lizards. But birds evolved from maniraptoran theropods, which are saurischians

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Ohmygosh there needs to be a new scene in the jurassic park movies..... or a restaurant.....

Glad you enjoyed it!

Consider connecting with the NHSM Herp Club. They are going out to do a survey in Middle River this Wednesday - June 12. contact Matthew - [email protected]

Could you please email directly to set up a time to meet to see the specimens - [email protected]

Glad you enjoyed it!

So true.