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BirdNote: Wishbones And Dinosaurs

Kent Landerholm

The anatomical structure we call the wishbone was long thought unique to birds. But fossil discoveries of recent decades have shown that some dinosaurs, including the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex, and the Velociraptors of ”Jurassic Park,” also had wishbones.

And there is now wide consensus among experts that this group of dinosaurs includes the direct ancestors of modern birds. Not only did they have wishbones but, like birds, they likely incubated their eggs, had hollow bones, and were clad in feathers!  

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