[SDavid]

"What is everyone elses thoughts about the whole connection between avian and dinosaur? "

I find the subject very interesting. Has anyone seen the documentary on reverse engineering a dinosaur from a bird? The documentary discusses what makes certain traits disappear over time and why. It goes on to explain how they can (in a lab) trigger or activate present but dormant genes and cause these traits to reappear. For example, "teeth" or lack of feathers. In a lab they activated the gene that caused teeth to grow in birds and were able to produce baby chicks with small teeth. They actually showed this.

I'm summarizing, but the premise was that if they continue along those lines they can keep activating genes present in birds that stopped producing certain traits and and eventually end up with something closer to a dinosaur.

It was a fascinatind doc. It was on a few months ago but I don't know the name or who made it. If anyone has seen it maybe they could describe it better than me.

But I see the connection too especially when I go to the bird section of the Bronx Zoo. Some of the birds look so primitive.