Happy Thanksgiving, Canada! OR You’re eating a dinosaur!

Once you’re done with your turkey dinner, considering taking a trip to your local museum. Google “turkey skeleton” and compare what comes up to a group of dinosaurs called theropods-those awesomely vicious dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex and Deinonychus.

Does anything look familiar? Take a look at those wings, legs and that wonderful head. Doesn’t it look strikingly similar to that of a Deinonychus? The feet could be the same. Throw some teeth in that turkey beak and you’d have a nightmare that could only be a dinosaur! As well, doesn’t that Deinonychus look shockingly familiar if you cover it with feathers?

Though it’s difficult to figure out exactly where they fit on the family tree, especially with the increasing evidence that many dinosaurs had feathers, most scientists (like almost all!) agree that birds are dinosaurs and that they rest upon the theropod branch. But perhaps the even more mysterious question is how did avian dinosaurs survive, while the rest of the dinosaurs vanished?

So for those carnivores out there (like me!) taking part in a dinosaur dinner, enjoy! And to those who choose to pass and sample a tofu or vegetable option instead, take comfort that you’ll have no guilty dinosaur eating dreams tonight!

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Written by @kironcmukherjee. Last update: October 13th, 2013.