By Chris10a
science
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By Unknown
Studying dinosaur bones and physiology can only teach us so much about how dinosaurs actually walked the Earth. Because dinosaurs called theropods are related to modern birds, a few researchers thought they could study how they walk using chickens.
Theropods include dinosaurs like the Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor, but they also ranged in size all the way down to tiny chicken-sized raptors covered in feathers. Theropods and modern birds also both have spongy air-filled bones, wishbones, and feathers and lay eggs and watch over them.
It isn't easy being green, or white in this case... Or is it? Scientists have struggled for years to understand the snowy plumage of Barn Owls they would see in the wild, compared to others that were various shades of red. Even more interesting, though they are nocturnal hunters, there are many more white-colored barn owls than red, pointing to an advantage of some sort. But how could a bright white creature on the backdrop of night have a natural advantage, it just seemed completely backwards. Recent research finally answered the question ornithologists (bird nerds) have been chomping at the bit to answer.
