Question: Can we be related to dinosaurs still, If so what dinosaur are we most likely to be related to?

Ceri-Wyn Thomas answered on 25 Jun 2010:

We are related to dinosaurs because we are related to every organism that has existed on our planet because Life has a common evolutionary root. However, we are only very distantly related to dinosaurs. We are mammals and mammals branched off from reptiles some time during the late Mesozoic when dinosaurs were still roaming about. There isn’t one particular dinosaur that we are more closely related to than others- their branch is quite far away from ours on the Tree of Life.

However, did you know that birds ARE essentially dinosaurs?! We classify them as maniraptoran therapods just like raptors and other bipedal dinosaurs like T-rex or Galimimus! So birds are actually the last living closest descendants of dinosaurs! You’ll never look at a chicken in the same way again! 😉

There are also what we call ‘bird-hipped’ dinosaurs like Triceratops, which have similar skeletons to birds but these dinosaurs are not as closely related. The skeletal similarities between bird-hipped (ornithischian) dinosaurs and birds is an example of convergent evolution! Cool!