Steve Brusatte on the Dinosaurs That Survived the Asteroid
5/28/202633 min
Birds are the only dinosaurs that survived the asteroid impact 66 million years ago — but not all birds did. In this episode, Steve Brusatte draws on the fossil record to explain which birds came through the extinction, and what set the survivors apart from the many that perished alongside the rest of the dinosaurs. He traces the evolutionary transition from ground-living theropods to modern birds, drawing on the spectacular feathered fossils unearthed over the past three decades in northeastern China.
Brusatte is Professor of Palaeontology and Evolution at the University of Edinburgh and author of The Story of Birds, published this year.
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First 90 secondsOliver Strimpel· Host0:00
[theme music] This is Geology Bites with Oliver Strimple. Birds are the only dinosaurs alive today. All the other dinosaur lineages, the tyrannosaurs, the long-necked sauropods, the horned and armored giants, were wiped out 66 million years ago when an asteroid struck the Yucatan. But one small group of beaked, fast-growing dinosaurs made it through, and their descendants now number over 10,000 species. How do we know that birds are dinosaurs? Why did this one branch survive when so many others, including most birds themselves, did not? And what does the fossil record actually tell us? Steve Brusatte is Professor of Paleontology and Evolution at the University of Edinburgh. His research has traced the evolutionary transition from ground-living theropod dinosaurs to modern birds, drawing on the spectacular feathered fossils unearthed over the past three decades in northeastern China. He has named more than 50 new species, including a feathered, winged raptor he christened Zhenyuanlong. He is the author of The Story of Birds, published earlier this year. Steve Brusatte, welcome to Geology Bites.
Steve Brusatte· Guest1:25
Oliver, thank you very much for having me.
Oliver Strimpel· Host1:28
Most listeners will know that birds