9 Birds That Are Secretly Living Dinosaurs Among us

9 Birds That Are Secretly Living Dinosaurs Among Us

Video Script:: 

for decades dinosaurs were thought to be gigantic slow-moving cold-blooded reptiles the movie jurassic park however popularized the idea of dinosaurs as quick smart and bird-like it has since been discovered that modern birds did in fact descend from two-legged dinosaurs known as theropods a group that included feathered velociraptors and tyrannosaurus pretty much all modern day birds can be traced back to prehistoric creatures but some more than others retain features and traits of the roaring dinosaurs they once evolved from if you're ready to see which birds we're talking about then prepare yourself as we count down nine birds that secretly look like the dinosaurs they are make sure you stick around for number one to discover which terrifying dinosaur your backyard bird is related to let's get started number nine the shoe bill if you find it hard to believe birds are related to dinosaurs one quick look at a shoe belt will almost instantly change your mind the prehistoric looking shoe bill stands up to five feet tall and can be found in the swamps of east africa like their dinosaur ancestors these menacing birds gobble up smaller prey including catfish monitor lizards and even baby crocodiles probably its most notable prehistoric feature is that giant fossil of a beak they use to communicate by clattering it together according to experts the hook at the end of the shoe bill's bill is similar to the bone structure of a velociraptor now if that doesn't look like a living breathing pterodactyl we don't know what does if you think this creature looks prehistoric wait until you hear about the chicken's older dinosaur relative [Music] number eight cassowary if the shoe bill didn't convince you then take a look at those bird claws the cassowary may look like a colorful prehistoric turkey but these australian natives actually get the crest on their head from relatives like the corey thorosaurus a duck-billed dinosaur with a similarly large structure on its head however in 2017 an even more similar dinosaur called the korothor raptor jakopsi was unearthed in china one quick side-by-side comparison of these two and you'll see the relation its powerful legs allow the cassowary to jump an incredibly five feet high and run up to 30 miles per hour which is only slightly slower than a velociraptor but definitely enough to outrun a t-rex before we move on here's a quick challenge for you if you can leave a like on this video smash that subscribe button and turn on the notifications in less than 5 seconds you will have 10 years of amazing luck hurry up and try it it actually works [Music] number seven helmeted hornbill [Music] do you hear that prehistoric call that's the sound of a living breathing dinosaur and not only does the helmet hornbill sound like one it looks like one too [Music] its unique and vibrant beak gives the helmeted hornbill a striking dinosaur-like appearance but what's even more interesting is the cask on its head unlike any other hornbill its cask is almost solid and is often used in head-to-head combat among males as was often done by our good friend the pachycephalosaurus like their dinosaur relatives once were the helmeted hornbill is also on the brink of extinction but it won't be an asteroid that wipes it out unfortunately the endangered bird species is often hunted for its magnificent solid beaks and sold on the black market number six great blue heron great blue herons look so prehistoric their dinosaur history just can't be denied do you see those three-toed tracks that's a feature inherited from their velociraptor ancestors and if you take a look at a baby blue hair on you'll quickly make the connection between bird and reptile blue herons are affectionately referred to as pterodactyls by many bird lovers pterodactyls were flying reptiles in the age of dinosaurs although genetically speaking great blue herons are nothing like pterodactyls and share more genetic makeup with the theropod family of dinosaurs theropods meaning beast-footed are a diverse group of dinosaurs which walked on two legs a family which included the largest terrestrial carnivores ever to have terrified our planet yup we're talking about you mr t-rex number five hautzin [Music] baby hodzins have extra claws growing from their wings for climbing but for today's video we like to think of them more as dinosaur claws scary as that may sound baby hodzins actually also use their extra set of claws so that they can hide in water if threatened by predators and then climb back up to their nest now if those claws combine with the tall plumage on its head its bright blue reptilian face and piercing red eyes don't shout dinosaur we don't know what does according to research published in 2015 hotends are a unique south american bird species that separated from other birds approximately 65 million years ago even though they aren't dinosaurs themselves this means these prehistoric birds were once flying over the likes of the brontosaurus and velociraptors number four kiwi who would have thought this cute little flightless bird would have a jurassic cousin well there are some similarities for starters it's flightless it walks on two legs and its wings are so ridiculously tiny you can barely notice them kind of like a t-rex's arms in fact new zealand's national bird shares its dna with the one and only tyrannosaurus rex [Music] there are five species of kiwi formerly recognized today all thought to have evolved from a single ancestor the proto-kiwi which lived 70 million years ago the oldest known tyrannosaurus specimen lived over 67 million years ago but while the kiwi far outlasted its far more terrifying cousin unfortunately it is now on the brink of extinction as well around 200 years ago millions of kiwi inhabited new zealand but they've been disappearing at a rate of 2 per year experts project that in 50 years time they may be nothing more than a fossil number three ostrich ostriches have existed long enough to have been found fossilized in canada just like their dinosaur ancestors [Music] age aside there's really no need to explain how the ostrich is related to dinosaurs those powerful legs long necks and practically useless upper limbs make it all too similar to a t-rex or any other flightless dino specifically the ornithomus a dinosaur with dense feathers covering their bodies long necks and bare legs had very similar traits to an ostrich the ostrich is an intimidating flightless bird that can reach nine feet tall 350 pounds its powerful legs can knock out a line and allow it to clock speeds of up to 43 miles an hour which is just a little faster than a velociraptor powerful as they may be thank the maker these guys don't have sharp teeth and claws number two sandhill crane recently we've discovered that many dinosaurs had feathers not just for flight but perhaps for mating display and body heat regulation as well the sandhill crane can be found across north america and can reach nearly four feet in height with a six foot wingspan between their deliberate walk exuberant mating dance and rattling trills it's easy to imagine one of these birds walking among the dinosaurs [Music] a large wingspan and long feathers are also features of velociraptors from the cretaceous period 65 million years ago but though they may have died many of their features live on just as they do in this sandhill crane before we reveal number one be sure to check out other amazing videos on our channel and give us a like if you enjoyed this video so far tell us in comments which one of these you like the most and why number one the chicken [Music] the dinosaur-ness of birds has been suspected for many years but who would have thought that chicken is the closest feathery relative to the one and only t-rex it's hard to gather molecular evidence for a group of animals that died out 65 million years ago but in 2003 scientists jack horner and mary schweitzer discovered some unfossilized material within a t-rex bone through sheer luck after discovering a giant t-rex femur in a remote montana field site they were forced to break the bone in half so it would fit inside their helicopter now they couldn't recover any dna and revive the animal as they did in jurassic park but they did find molecules of the protein collagen which appears in slightly different forms in many animals so they compared the dinosaur version with 21 living animals including humans chimps mice salmon alligators and chickens and it turns out the t-rex's collagen is most similar to chickens its next closest match was the alligators who would have thought this could be related to this and that's it for the nine birds that secretly look like the dinosaurs they are which of these birds do you think most resembles a dinosaur let us know in the comments below and if you like this video you're going to love our video on the deadliest birds in the [Music] world you