Survivor Birds
Survivor Birds
Late Cretaceous birds used geothermal heat in order to incubate their eggs just like some birds today. This would help aid in the survival of some birds. The eggs were incubating between 60-100 degrees Celsius, and for approximately 2-3 months, and also laid 8-12 eggs at a time, and they were also incubating within a small hole covered with dirt and sand, which kept them safe and warm. This would help aid in the survival of the birds because the eggs would already be used to extreme heat, and would be able to resist more heat than most of the species alive at that time. Also, they found that the shells were thicker than most of the other shells because due to the geothermal heating, the shells would wear down over time. The hatchlings would take about 1-2 days to dig their way to the surface, which means that they were able to live underground for a short period of time. http://www.arkive.org/maleo/macrocephalon-maleo/ http://www.thefossilforum.com/uploads/monthly_05_2011/post-420-0-70429300-1306804324.jpg
Late Cretaceous birds have similar characteristics to the Maleo, and one of these characteristics is that they were precocial and could even be superprecocial. This was able to assist the birds at that era because at birth, they were able to fend for themselves, by being able to walk and fly. So, this would have also given them the ability to sense danger and to be able to find sources of cover in these situations. This would assist them in surviving due to the fact that they were small, and were able to get into hard to reach places to keep safe; and they were also able to fend for themselves at an early age. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/2012/05/15/drowned-cretaceous-bird-colony/ http://scotthartman.deviantart.com/art/Late-Cretaceous-paleo-bird-190293782
The distribution of the birds if it is assumed that it would take the same areas as the Megapodiidae, they would be located in the Australian regions, in rainforests
Late Cretaceous birds used geothermal heat in order to incubate their eggs just like some birds today. This would help aid in the survival of some birds. The eggs were incubating between 60-100 degrees Celsius, and for approximately 2-3 months, and also laid 8-12 eggs at a time, and they were also incubating within a small hole covered with dirt and sand, which kept them safe and warm. This would help aid in the survival of the birds because the eggs would already be used to extreme heat, and would be able to resist more heat than most of the species alive at that time. Also, they found that the shells were thicker than most of the other shells because due to the geothermal heating, the shells would wear down over time. The hatchlings would take about 1-2 days to dig their way to the surface, which means that they were able to live underground for a short period of time. http://www.arkive.org/maleo/macrocephalon-maleo/ http://www.thefossilforum.com/uploads/monthly_05_2011/post-420-0-70429300-1306804324.jpg
Late Cretaceous birds have similar characteristics to the Maleo, and one of these characteristics is that they were precocial and could even be superprecocial. This was able to assist the birds at that era because at birth, they were able to fend for themselves, by being able to walk and fly. So, this would have also given them the ability to sense danger and to be able to find sources of cover in these situations. This would assist them in surviving due to the fact that they were small, and were able to get into hard to reach places to keep safe; and they were also able to fend for themselves at an early age. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/2012/05/15/drowned-cretaceous-bird-colony/ http://scotthartman.deviantart.com/art/Late-Cretaceous-paleo-bird-190293782
The distribution of the birds if it is assumed that it would take the same areas as the Megapodiidae, they would be located in the Australian regions, in rainforests