Bald Eagle Research Paper

Evolutionary biologists believe that birds evolved from reptiles. Their skeletal structure and blood cells of today’s birds share a surprising foundation with reptiles. According to biologists, feathers may have evolved from the scales of reptilian skin, also. From 144 million to 66 million years ago, during the Mesozoic era, the first birds began to evolve. Fossils from this time showed that early birds had teeth. Tens of millions of years ago, a group of birds called kites evolved. Early kites were thought to have scavenged and hunted for fish, much like Bald Eagles do now. The Archaeopteryx resembled both a bird and a reptile. Except for the feathers and bird-like feet, it didn't look like a bird at all. The jaws had teeth, which birds don't
Birds are linked to dinosaurs by their pelvis', clavicles' and wrists. Once the idea that birds came from dinosaurs began, there was a scurry to find fossil evidence that could link birds back to their dino-roots. Several different dino-birds arose in the last century. One was Caudipteryx and another the Microraptar. Another fossil was found that, although it was not a fossil with wings, it was a closely related dinosaur to birds that was very small and appeared to be arboreal. This tiny fossil is only about 10 cm long and if it lived in the trees could have glided from tree to tree. This was the Microraptar. In China a fossil was found that was dinosaur-like but had feathers and it was known as the Caudipteryx. It seems that the wings would have been too small to allow it to fly, but, the fact that it had wings made it big news! This brings up the idea that the initial evolution of feathers may not have been for powered flight. About 36 million years ago, the first eagles descended from kites. The first eagles to appear were the early sea eagles which preyed on fish and had feather free feet, similar to the kites. The booted eagles also began to appear, which had feathers below the