Spiral of Life V: Bird Evolution

Summary

Did you know that birds descend from dinosaurs? The Spiral of Life V mural highlights the first appearance of birds almost 200 million years ago. Evolving from theropod dinosaurs, to kiwis, cardinals, penguins, eagles, birds of paradise and more, discover the lineage of an amazing, diverse class of animals.

The Spiral of Life is a time-scaled modern phylogenetic tree. It uses a radial branching out of species from the last universal common ancestor in order to emphasize that evolution is not exclusively linear or vertical. It also considers the role that lateral gene transfer plays in the evolution of life.