The Bird Family Tree: New Research Reveals How Birds Evolved After Dinosaurs

New research has decoded the family tree for birds. Researchers have taken a closer look at both extinct species and ones still alive today to better understand the stunning variety of bird species.

Birds are the only living descendants of dinosaurs. Until now, though, scientists had no idea how quickly they diverged into different species. It turns out, though, that more than 10,000 bird species evolved in a span of only a few million years.

"These birds just diversified rapidly after dinosaurs went extinct," said Emily Moriarty Lemmon, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Now that these relationships have been identified, we can more accurately study how color vision, feather structure and many other bird traits have evolved through time."

The researchers used a genetic sampling technique that targets a few hundred key locations on each genome that are present in all of the species and contain sufficient DNA sequence variation to uncover the relationships among organisms. In all, the scientists analyzed several hundred genes for many different species of birds, reconstructing the bird family tree.

The researchers found that birds diversified quickly. In addition, it turns out that owls are closely related to toucans and hornbills, and falcons are closely related to parrots and songbirds. The scientists also discovered that the nocturnal nightjar is closely related to the tiny hummingbird.

The findings reveal a bit more about the evolution of birds. More specifically, the new study shows how these birds evolved rapidly after the demise of the dinosaurs, spreading out into different niches all over the world.

The findings are published in the journal Nature.

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