Thanks to their light skeleton and feathers covering their whole body birds are able to fly, much to the longstanding admiration and envy of mankind. Birds are indeed remarkable creatures, but what is their origin?
When a huge meteorite struck the earth some 60 million years ago, arguably in what is now known as the Gulf of Mexico, the resulting dust cloud blocked the sunlight from reaching the earth surface during several years, causing in the first place a worldwide cooling and a massive extinction of the vegetation. The massive coldblooded dinosaurs being blocked from sunlight and nourishment did not survive long, much to the benefit of the smaller dinosaurs (some with feathers) and mammals with their inbuilt thermo-regulatory capability and their lesser nutritional needs.
Being better insulated and now with less natural enemies, those smaller, feather-covered dinosaurs eventually evolved in all known living and extinct birds. And we can say now that we see dinosaurs flying in our backyard.
