Sunday, September 30, 2012

Budgies and Dinosaurs

Photo © Lunchi on deviantart

“By the time the meteor arrived, dinosaurs were likely already on their way to extinction. That event, if anything, simply hastened their demise but the end was already coming. I’m sure the dinosaurs were not happy about dying and certainly they weren’t happy about being forced to evolve into budgies, but sometimes these things just happen and there is no one to blame.”

If only the dinosaurs knew how amazing these little birds would turn out to be. However, some scientists claim that the common ancestor linking budgies and dinosaurs together is NOT a dinosaur, but a prehistoric creature called the Archaeopteryx. 

The Archaeopteryx, sometimes referred to by its German name Urvogel ("first bird"), was a kind of prehistoric creature that represented the transition between dinosaurs and birds, and has become a key piece of evidence in Darwin's evolution theory. This creature is referred to as the oldest known bird, and probably the oldest known ancestor of budgerigars.

Picture © Animal Planet

5 comments:

  1. Hi Bika! Thats really cool to think about! I have a question for you, but first I've given Sydney a new toy, and he has a mineral block, so his beak should be trimmed down in no time! Thanks. And the question is Sydney isn't grown up get, but I wondered when is a budgie fully grown up? I would say Sydney is between 0-4 months old from the looks of it. (I see that from the help of your post that your wrote a year ago maybe?) Hilsen Mia & Sydney

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Mia, good to hear Sydney is doing well! I just gave my budgies a new mineral block too :-) Well, there is a good way to keep track of a budgie's age, especially when they are still young: count their molts. Molting is a natural process where the budgie's feathers get replaced with new ones. Baby budgies start losing their feathers for the first time around the age of 3-4 months. They look more "fluffy" when they are babies, and the closer they get to adult age, the smoother their plumage gets. One of my budgies, Pixie, is going through her first molt right now, and she is losing some feathers on the top of her head (she actually looks like she is wearing hair gel!). Budgies will get their adult plumage a couple of months after their first molt (could be as early as 6 months). After 9-12 months, budgies go through their second molt, and after that, you could consider them fully grown. It's a bit hard to predict when your budgie will be fully grown, because every bird has an individual "molting cycle". Some budgies only go through their first molt when they are 7 months old. Then their second molt will only be after 12 months. You can read more about a budgie's first molt here: http://www.birds-online.de/gesundheit/gesgefieder/jugendmauser_en.htm. Hope that helps a little :-) Hilsen Bika & Frodo, Isla, Leo & Pixie.

      Delete
  2. Thank you Bika, it helps. Sydney hasn't molted get. So he's still quite young i think. :-) Say hi to Frodo, Isla, Leonidas and Pixie for me please! Mia & Sydney

    ReplyDelete
  3. budgie budgie budgie budgie budgie

    ReplyDelete
  4. So my budgie is Archaeopteryx?!

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH THEYRE GONNA EAT ME!
    Wait but theyre small now ;-; Nevermind

    ReplyDelete