Dinosaur factsheets

Learn more about dinosaurs discovered here in Australia and across the globe.

Updated

16/04/26

Dinosaurs to Birds

The idea that birds evolved from dinosaurs is not new.

The first birds

The first birds had sharp teeth, long bony tails and claws on their hands. The clear distinction we see between living birds and other animals did not exist with early birds. In fact, they were more like small dinosaurs than they were like any bird today.

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Bird-like dinosaurs

Many of the characteristics of early and modern birds appeared first in theropod dinosaurs. Feathers, wishbones, modified "flapping" forelimbs and hollow bones are found in the coelurosaurs - the theropod group that includes tyrannosaurs and dromaeosaurs.

Modern birds

It is clear to us today what is a bird and what is not - as feathers make it difficult to confuse them with any other living animal. Many other features – such as wishbones and specialised joints in the wings – are also unique. We place birds in a major group called Aves.

Ornithology

The Mesozoic era

The Mesozoic Era spanned 252 to 66 million years ago – a tiny part of the Earth’s long history.

Mass extinction event

Palaeontology

Palaeontology is the study of fossils. Fossils are the remains or traces of prehistoric living things and are preserved in substances such as sediments, coal, tar, oil, amber or volcanic ash, or frozen in ice or naturally mummified.

Fossilised specimens
Ancient remains

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Life & Geo Sciences Collections

Discover the Australian Museum's extensive Life and Geo Sciences collections and research areas, including the name-bearing type specimens held at the museum.

Why we collect
Research areas

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