There have been many studies that have associated modern day animals as the descendants of dinosaurs. A recent study by Harvard scientists has come up with new insights that state that the evolution of birds has been the result of drastic changes in how dinosaurs developed. They came to this conclusion after comparing the similarities between the bird skulls and those of juvenile dinosaurs.

According to the scientists, some bird species take as little as 12 weeks to mature sexually. This time frame is far less than what many dinosaurs took. Due to the fact that they do not take years to reach sexual maturity they are able retain the physical characteristics of baby dinosaurs.

Arkhat Abzhanov, associate professor of organism and evolutionary biology said, “What is interesting about this research is the way it illustrates evolution as a developmental phenomenon. By changing the developmental biology in early species, nature has produced the modern bird, an entirely new creature which today is the most successful group of land vertebrates on the planet”.

But what is more profound fact that came out of the study is that while early dinosaurs undergo vast morphological changes as they mature, the skulls of juvenile and adult birds remain remarkably similar.