This is bird note.

The familiar birds of the present

the familiar birds of the present are the direct descendants of dinosaurs. But there's another group of animals that you might say looks pretty prehistoric. And that's the crocodilions.

Crocodiles and their relatives like this American alligator.

Crocs are the closest living relatives of birds.

The ancestors of all crocodiles split off from the

dinosaur group about 250 million years ago. Dinosaurs diversified into all kinds of lifestyles, herbivores and predators.

Big and lumbering, small and nimble.

Crocodilions diversified too. There were ocean-dwelling crocks and there were ones that ran around on two

legs like some well-known dinosaurs. But mass extinction events hit the crocodilions hard. These days, crocks are scaly, short-legged,

and ambush their prey from shallow water. They don't share many of the unique adaptation of birds,

like feathers and impressive vocal abilities. That said, gators definitely know how to growl.

It's a far cry from the D. D.D. of a chickadee, but both voices carry on the legacy of ancestors that lived long, long ago.

For Bird Note, I'm Ariana Rimmel.