The first birds
The first birds had sharp teeth, long bony tails and claws on their hands. The clear distinction we see between living birds and other animals did not exist with early birds.
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The first birds were in fact more like small dinosaurs than they were like any bird today.
The earliest known (from fossils) bird is the 150-million-year-old Archaeopteryx, but birds had evolved before then. A range of birds with more advanced features appeared soon after Archaeopteryx. One group gave rise to modern birds in the Late Cretaceous. So, for a time, bird-like dinosaurs, primitive birds and early modern birds all co-existed.
Two examples of early birds are:
Archaeopteryx lithographica
Archaeopteryx drawing by Dr Anne Musser
Image: Dr Anne Musser© Australian Museum
Archaeopteryx has a number of features not found in modern birds, including:
- jaws with teeth
- claws on hands
- long, bony tail
© Australian Museum
Confuciusornis sanctus
Confuciusornis was an early bird that lived 125 million years ago in China. It had many primitive features including claws on the wings. However, it had more advanced features than Archaeopteryx as it was one of the earliest known birds to have a shortened bony tail and a toothless beak. It also had feathers suited for flight. A melanosome study performed on fossils of Confuciusornis suggested it had dark feathers on its body, and dark and white feathers on its wings.
Confuciusornis sanctus
Image: Franz Anthony© Studio 252MYA
