NewTime wrote:
No, birds aren't dinosaurs. If birds were dinosaurs, then birds would be reptiles. Birds did come from dinosaurs though.
According to the newest insights in the field of taxonomy, which studies the family tree and classification of all living organisms, reptiles do not form a single group or 'clade' that share a common ancestor. Mammals, for example, do; but reptiles are more of a collection of different vertebrate clades that only share the characteristics of having amniotic eggs, exothermic metabolism ('cold-blooded'), and are covered in scales rather than feathers or fur. There is little reason to group together lizards/snakes, tuataras, turtles, and crocodiles, other than for the convenience of simplification. In fact, it would make more sense to group crocodiles together with birds, as they share a common ancestor (ás did dinosaurs and pterosaurs).
_________________
clarity of thought before rashness of action