Kaakaasaurus

Shalini Srinivasan

Raji was sitting peacefully under a tree, reading a book and eating a bajji, when a crow walked up to her.
"Hi Kaaka!" Raji said.

Raji opened her mouth to take a bite of bajji.
The crow flew up, grabbed the bajji, and flew away.

Raji jumped up, leapt over the
compound wall and started running down the road.
"Give that back, you useless, food-stealing, peanut-brained crow!" Raji shouted.

The crow was flying slowly.
Its body was getting bigger and heavier.
Worse, its wings were getting smaller.
"I'll get you soon!" Raji said.

Salim came cycling down the road.
The tired crow dropped from the sky and fell on Salim and his cycle:
CRASH!
Raji ran up to them.

Salim was lying on the ground with his cycle. There was a weird creature on his head, flapping wildly. It was large and strong. And it had teeth. It bit Salim, hard.
CHOMP!
"Aaaarghh!" screamed Salim. "Your crow is eating me!"

"That’s not my crow," Raji said. "Actually, it’s not a crow at all."
They looked at the not-crow.
"You’re right. That’s a dinosaur!" yelled Salim.

The crow-dinosaur flapped and ran towards the bazaar.
"What if it bites more people?" asked Raji.
"We should stop it," Salim replied.

The crow-dinosaur stomped through the bazaar,
yelling KAA KRAAAAA and knocking everyone over.

Only Prof. Aunty watched it with wonder:
"Is that…? Am I losing my mind?
Could it be a real live theropod?"

Raji and Salim helped Prof. Aunty up.
"Prof. Aunty, have you seen …?" asked Raji and Salim.
She said, "A bird-dinosaur? Yes, I have. Where did you get that creature?" she said. "They’re supposed to be extinct! I've been studying them all my life and I've only seen old bones."

The ex-crow headed out of the bazaar.
Raji and Salim and Prof. Aunty followed.
Raji ran extra fast and threw herself at it.

"Got you!" Raji held the crow-dinosaur close.
Salim sat down and said, "It’s turning into a T-Rex!"
"They are... aaah… the same… hamaa… family," panted Prof. Aunty. "Birds and dinosaurs, I mean. It’s evolving backwards."

A lizard ran by and the dinosaur snapped at it.
"Yuck, gross, cannibal!" shouted Raji.
"It’s like if I ate my cousins!" said Salim.
"No, it isn’t," Prof. Aunty said. "Birds are descended from dinosaurs. So they’re fairly close to crocodiles. But lizards are an entirely different kind of reptile."

The crow-dinosaur curled up on the ground and made an unhappy noise:
Kraa-kroomp .
"I think it’s sad it can no longer fly," said Salim.
Raji patted its snout kindly.

They went to Prof. Aunty’s house. On the table was a plate of bajjis.
"Mmm," Raji said.
"Kraaa!" said the dinosaur.
It stretched as tall as Prof. Aunty, snatched the entire plate, crunched the bajjis
and the steel.

Then it made a loud BURP, and stuck all its teeth out in a huge, happy grin:
Kaaaa!
Raji and Salim exchanged a grin and said together, "Kaakasaurus Rex!"

Birds are descended from a family of dinosaurs called theropods. They are often called "living dinosaurs." Apart from a few differences, birds and dinosaurs are really very similar:
Birds
* Shorter
tail-bones
* Long, smooth, feathers for flying, scales on feet and sometimes necks
* Beaks,
no teeth
* Large
wings
* Light,
hollow bones
Dinosaurs
* Long
tails
* Scales,
and short, fuzzy feathers
* Snouts,
lots of teeth
* Small
wings, incapable of flight
* Heavier
bones

Make a birdosaur!

Copy the bones on the previous page into your notebook, cut them out with a pair of scissors, and put them
together. You can use the bones to make either a dinosaur or a bird! Or both!