London: A lot of people think that dinosaurs are extinct. This, however, may not be the case, because it is possible, that dinosaurs have descendants: the birds. The modern form of the theory that birds are related to theropod dinosaurs (two-legged carnivores) dates from the 1970s.
The British palaeontologist Thomas Huxley presented a theory in 1868, claiming that birds are descended from dinosaurs. He stated that, only dinosaurs had the same sort of ankle joint as birds and had the same sort of ilium as birds.
Also some dinosaurs have the same sort of rear foot as birds with a rear-pointing fourth toe. Advanced dinosaurs are believed to have the same sort of build as birds with a short torso, stable hips, long and very flexible neck and long rear limbs.
However a counter theory tells a different story. Researchers from Oregon State University have uncovered various physical inconsistencies between birds and dinosaurs. They argue that birds appear in the fossil record before the dinosaurs from which they would have descended.
Only recently, in the last few years, most palaeontologists agreed that dinosaurs were, in fact, the ancestors of birds.
So the dinosaurs did not all die out – they merely developed into birds!