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Explore the diversity and evolution of birds with this web interactive based on the Wall of Birds mural. Envisioned by Cornell Lab ornithologists and realized by artist Jane Kim, the large-scale mural features species from all surviving bird families alongside a select group of extinct ancestors.

In the second film of the Great Transitions trilogy, paleontologist Julia Clarke takes us on a journey to uncover the evidence that birds descended from dinosaurs. The discovery of Archaeopteryx in a quarry in Germany in the early 1860s provided the first clue that birds descended from reptiles. But what kind of reptile? In the last 40 years, scientists have identified many shared features between birds and two-legged carnivorous dinosaurs called theropods. The film illustrates many of the practices of science, including asking important questions, formulating and testing hypotheses, analyzing and interpreting evidence, and revising explanations as new evidence becomes available.

From peacocks to birds-of-paradise, many male birds have evolved extreme forms of fanciness. Here you'll explore some of the most impressive displays on the planet and learn about the evolutionary processes that drive these cases of excess. Begin by using exaggerated plumage patterns as a clue to identify the males in a series of colorful bird pair photos.

To look at the evolution of modern bird feathers, we must start a long time ago, with the dinosaurs from whence they came. We see early incarnations of feathers on dinosaur fossils, and remnants of dinosaurs in a bird's wish bone. Carl Zimmer explores the stages of evolution and how even the reasons for feathers have evolved over millions of years.

Dinosaurs evolved over millions of years into the modern birds we see today! How did such large creatures become so small? Trace is here to tell you the answer. 

Imagine you swallowed a small bird and suddenly gained the ability to fly … or you ate a cobra and were able to spit poisonous venom! Well, throughout the history of life (and specifically during the evolution of complex eukaryotic cells) things like this happened all the time. Adam Jacobson explains endosymbiosis, a type of symbiosis in which one symbiotic organism lives inside another.

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