For example, the majority view at the moment is that pterosaurs weren't dinosaurs because they split off from the protodinosaurian lineage before the Big Mama Dinosaur appeared on the scene. The fossil record is too spotty for the question to be settled now, but lots of folks are out digging, and new specimens and species are discovered all the time. The question probably won't be settled in time for you to explain it to your kids, but maybe they'll be able to explain it to theirs. In the meantime, let 'em chew on this. Birds probably are descended from dinosaurs.
Pterosaurs maybe are dinosaurs.
However . . . birds didn't descend from pterosaurs. What's more, bats didn't descend from either one. In other words, the ability to fly, that most magical of nature's gifts, evolved among the vertebrates not just once, not twice, but three times. Inc. All rights reserved. No material contained in this site may be republished or reposted without express written permission.