An owl ancestor appeared? Scientists have discovered a magical little dinosaur, night is like day in its eyes

According to reports, some time ago, scientists discovered a small dinosaur fossil that looks like an owl. It is a small theropod carnivorous dinosaur with a body length of only about 0.6 meters, which is smaller than a domestic pet cat. .

Through fossil research, this small dinosaur lived in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia today about 81 million years ago. Of course, in the Cretaceous period, it was not the Gobi Desert.

It can be seen from the modeling and restoration of the fossil that this little dinosaur looks like an owl and has a pair of big eyes, which allows it to be active at night, or it may itself be a magical dinosaur that is active at night .

Scientists named this small dinosaur Shuvuuia. It didn’t live long on the earth. Shuvuuia died out about 75 million years ago, which means that this small dinosaur was on the earth at that time, and It is not competitive to survive, so it has only survived for about 6 million years.

Fortunately, the fossils of Shuvuuia are very complete, which also allows scientists to better understand its living habits. Through research, scientists have found that Shuvuuia has night vision, and this is the first time in dinosaurs. , found this feature.

So, as the "night hunter" Shuvuuia, could it be the ancestor of the owl? For this issue, further research is needed. Although modern scientific research believes that the ancestors of birds originated from theropod dinosaurs, the existing mainstream view is that the ancestors of primitive birds are single evolution, which means that , Many living birds evolved later, not at the same time.

Who are the ancestors of owls?

From the perspective of traceability, no direct ancestors of owls have been found in the existing bird fossils. However, some studies believe that the ancestors of owls should be very ancient, and may have appeared in the Cretaceous period.

As early as more than 100 years ago, scientists discovered primitive bird fossils with many owl characteristics in Romania. At that time, many researchers believed that the ancestors of owls had been found, but due to insufficient evidence, there has been no evidence. was finally confirmed.

The same is true of the fossils found this time of Shuvuuia. There is a possibility that the ancestors of owls evolved separately. If scientists can confirm that Shuvuuia is a small theropod dinosaur living in trees, then maybe it can be found on it, Find out some mysteries about the origin of owls.

Why are owls active at night?

Compared with other birds, owls are generally different in their daytime activities and foraging. It can be said that owls do the opposite. So, what is the reason for this? If it weren't for the habit of night-hunting inherited from ancestors, the answer would only be another possibility: it was acquired.

Through fossil research, there is a view that the identity of owls becoming "night walkers" began about 34 million years ago. If this view is true, it also means that before that, the living habits of owls were also similar to other Same as birds. As for the reason, it is probably because the small owl has no advantage during the daytime foraging process.

Because other raptors and carnivorous birds all end their foraging during the day, so at night, no other raptors come out to compete with owls for prey, which is also the key to owls' survival, after all, they are also One of the oldest surviving birds on Earth, if it weren't for the fact that it became a "nightwalker", the owl might have gone extinct long ago.

In addition, the researchers also said that although owls have found a special evolutionary path for themselves, but in the process of becoming "night walkers", the cone cells disappear, so that they can no longer see colors, which also makes They are the only birds on earth that cannot see color.

Did birds really originate from dinosaurs?

Now that we have mentioned the ancestors of owls, let us discuss the question mentioned above: Are the ancestors of birds really dinosaurs?

In the western Liaoning area of ​​China, fossils such as Sinosauropteryx discovered can be used as one of the evidences. In addition, the view that birds originated from dinosaurs is also the mainstream view in the world, but the reason why it has not been confirmed until today. , because the bones of birds are very light, which makes their fossil preservation very difficult.

As a result, the fossils of the transitional link cannot be found, which can help humans to completely sort out the accurate origin of birds. Just like studying the origin of humans, the existing fossils also cannot confirm that humans originated from Australopithecus.

The same goes for other animals. If you want to thoroughly understand the evolutionary history of various species on the earth, you need to find the fossils of every link. Just like the Shuvuuia fossils discovered this time, if you want to prove whether it is related to the ancestors of owls, it is necessary to further search for the fossils of species that are related to Shuvuuia after 75 million years, and find the answer through genetic tracing. Let’s wait and see. !