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Question
Find the incorrect statement from the options given below.
Find the incorrect statement from the options given below.
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Solution
The correct option is B There is no evolutionary connection between reptiles and birds
Understanding the evolution of life on Earth has never been simple. Evolution is a process by which modern day organisms have descended from their ancestors.
Example: Invertebrates → Chordates → vertebrates (fishes, tetrapods like amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals).
Dinosaurs are the giant reptiles that came into existence and dominated during the Jurassic period of the Mesozoic era. However, the period that followed it, the Cretaceous period, witnessed the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Around 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared from the Earth. It was a mass extinction, extinction of a large number of animals. Dinosaurs were completely wiped out marking the dawn of a new age. It is believed that the extinction took place when a massive asteroid hit the earth’s surface leading to immense changes in the atmosphere, sea levels and temperatures that ended life on Earth.
It is believed that the probable ancestors of birds are reptiles. As per studies, birds descended from a group of two-legged dinosaurs known as Theropods, whose members included the Tyrannosaurus rex.
Fossil study of Archaeopteryx also supported the evolution of birds from reptiles. Archaeopteryx is a fossil bird which has both avian and reptilian features and hence it is considered as a missing link between reptiles and birds.
It acts as an evolutionary connection between birds and reptiles. The avian characters include the jaws being modified into a beak and the exoskeleton of feathers.
The reptilian characters include jaws bearing teeth (modern birds lack teeth) and many tail vertebrae (birds have short tails with fused vertebrae).
This implies that birds have evolved from reptiles. Birds, for that matter, can fly. It means the feathers which were mostly functionless in the dinosaurs gained utmost importance in birds and gave them the ability to fly.
Hence, option b is incorrect.
Understanding the evolution of life on Earth has never been simple. Evolution is a process by which modern day organisms have descended from their ancestors.
Example: Invertebrates → Chordates → vertebrates (fishes, tetrapods like amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals).
Dinosaurs are the giant reptiles that came into existence and dominated during the Jurassic period of the Mesozoic era. However, the period that followed it, the Cretaceous period, witnessed the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Around 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared from the Earth. It was a mass extinction, extinction of a large number of animals. Dinosaurs were completely wiped out marking the dawn of a new age. It is believed that the extinction took place when a massive asteroid hit the earth’s surface leading to immense changes in the atmosphere, sea levels and temperatures that ended life on Earth.
It is believed that the probable ancestors of birds are reptiles. As per studies, birds descended from a group of two-legged dinosaurs known as Theropods, whose members included the Tyrannosaurus rex.
Fossil study of Archaeopteryx also supported the evolution of birds from reptiles. Archaeopteryx is a fossil bird which has both avian and reptilian features and hence it is considered as a missing link between reptiles and birds.
It acts as an evolutionary connection between birds and reptiles. The avian characters include the jaws being modified into a beak and the exoskeleton of feathers.
The reptilian characters include jaws bearing teeth (modern birds lack teeth) and many tail vertebrae (birds have short tails with fused vertebrae).
This implies that birds have evolved from reptiles. Birds, for that matter, can fly. It means the feathers which were mostly functionless in the dinosaurs gained utmost importance in birds and gave them the ability to fly.
Hence, option b is incorrect.
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