Paleontology: Theropod Dinosaurs and the Origin of Birds

• Week 1 - Bird Anatomy
  In Lesson 1, we explore the anatomy and adaptations of birds, and meet the Victorian scientists who first suspected the link between the terrible lizards and modern birds. In order to fly, birds have undergone a series of anatomical specializations that distin...
• Week 2 - Survey of Non-Avian Theropods
  In the wake of the Permian mass extinction, the prehistoric world was ripe for the taking. All the world’s landmass was consolidated into the single supercontinent: Pangaea. With no seas standing in their way, new terrestrial animal lineages were able to explo...
• Week 3 - Coelurosaurs I
  In the previous lesson, we explored how the various theropod lineages adapted to their role as apex predators. In this lesson, we will explore a new group of theropods, as much characterized by their speed and agility as their predatory prowess. The coelurosau...
• Week 4 - Coelurosaurs II
  Dinosaurs had long been thought of as overgrown reptiles; cold blooded, swamp bound, with meagre intelligence and little to no social complexity. The ‘Dinosaur Renaissance’ was a revolution in palaeontological thinking that entirely transformed that traditiona...
• Week 5 - The Avian World
  66 million years ago, an asteroid the larger than Mt. Everest collided with the earth and brought about the extinction of the dinosaurs…except birds! Now that you’re familiar with some of their larger Mesozoic ancestors and their bird-like features, it’s time ...

Philip John Currie, Ph.D
Professor and Canada Research Chair, Dinosaur Paleobiology
Department of Biological Sciences