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Red Tailed Hawk
This Red-Tailed Hawk has been roosting on the cliff behind our house. Hawks belong to a group of birds known as raptors. How closely related are they to Velociraptors, the dinosaurs shown in the Jurassic Park movies?

Answer:

The similarity in names is not an indication that they are related. Instead, the word "raptor" means "seize or take by force", and both of these predators fit that description very well. Still, current thought is that they are fairly closely related. The fossil record indicates that birds and maniraptoran therapods (a group of dinosaurs that includes Velociraptor) shared a common ancestor, and some fossils of maniraptoran therapods show the presence of feathers on these dinosaurs.
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