Well there are many theories about the different evolutionary chains. For example, some believe the Neanderthal to be a direct descendant of man, while others believe the Neanderthal was a separate offshoot. Whales are another good example, originally believe to be evolved from other sea-faring creatures, they are now believed to be evolved from an early hippo or water-faring pig.neoshagrath wrote:I think dinosaurs evolved from a winged animal. And I think chicken did not evolve from raptors because dinosaurs are reptiles.Khan wrote:Some theorists believe the Raptor had some feathers and was in the evolutionary chain of the chicken. I just think that's funny.
As far as I know, the most commonly accepted belief is that there were fish that came unto land and developed into amphibians. Some of those developed into reptiles, which included the Dinosaurs. I know that there was some kind of gliding reptile that is believed to be one of the ancestors of the Dinosaur. I think they were kind of like the flying squirrels, gliding from tree to tree.
Proving the existence of feathers is very difficult, as they do not survive the test of time. Scientists speculate on their existence from some of the bone structure and from what I remember tiny indentations in some of the bones, but it is unknown. As far as the Raptor association with the chicken, that was from a Discovery channel show I caught a little while back. My knowledge is really general in this area.
One of the challenges with evolutionary biology is proving common ancestry. There are a few areas that are not well understood. One is speciation, the rapid development of a completely different species in a relatively short period of time. Though the environment and circumstances have been speculated on, there is not very much in the fossil record to explain it. Another one is irreducible complexity. It seems that that something as complex as the eye may have developed independently among different creatures. That is curious to some and another area that is not well understood.
So could the Raptor be related to the chicken? Well birds are believed to be evolved from reptiles, so why not?