The birds survived the extinction of their dinosaur relatives thanks to the ability to eat seeds

The impact changed the Earth's climate and caused the sunlight to be hidden for several years. The destruction of the vegetation deprived the plant-eating dinosaurs of their food, and then the meat-eaters also suffered the death of the former. But seeds that were still in the ground could be used as bird food until the earth began to recover

Modern birds owe their survival to their ancestors who were able to peck seeds after the asteroid event that wiped out most living things including the dinosaurs, scientists say.
Dinosaur-like birds with toothless beaks survived the "nuclear winter" that occurred following the impact of the celestial bone, thanks to their diet. The impact changed the Earth's climate and caused the sunlight to be hidden for several years.
The destruction of the vegetation deprived the plant-eating dinosaurs of their food, and then the meat-eaters also suffered the death of the former. But seeds that were still in the ground could be used as bird food until the earth began to recover.
The theory, recently published in the journal Current Biology, could explain why no modern bird has a beak full of teeth.

"After the meteorite, there was a nuclear winter where not many plants grew and certainly not enough to feed the herbivores. The meat eaters couldn't eat the plant eaters because they all perished," said lead researcher Derek Larson, from the University of Toronto.
"We think that the survival of the birds has something to do with the presence of their source" said Larson.

Fossilized dinosaur teeth

The researchers examined more than 3,000 fossilized teeth of flying dinosaurs known as maniraptorans. These dinosaurs are part of the closest family of modern birds, but at the end of the Cretaceous period (asteroid impact), many of them disappeared, including toothed birds. The team suspected that the bird's diet may have played a part in the survival of the ancestors of modern birds.

"We looked at the diet of modern birds and were able to reconstruct what a hypothetical primitive chicken looked like and what its likely diet was," Larson said. "A chicken that feeds on seeds needs a relatively strong and short beak that will be able to crack these seeds. Larson added: "Most of today's birds wouldn't be around if it weren't for their seed-eating ancestors, although a handful of birds may have survived by eating insects."
The dust in the atmosphere from the impact of the comet or the giant asteroid hid the sun and did not allow the process of photosynthesis to exist in plants. However, seeds already accumulated in the soil were still available as a food source for anything only if the animal had a suitable source capable of eating them.

to the notice of the researchers