"- - - non-avian dinosaurs."
I've never seen this distinction made so clearly..
"The findings suggest mammals had already begun to diversify long before the asteroid-linked extinction event 65 million years ago that killed non-avian dinosaurs."
The idea that modern birds are direct descendents of dinosaurs seems to have hit the deep waters in the mainstream.
Since some birds are clearly intelligent and do have emotions I wonder how dinosaur brains and paws might have evolved if left alone. Maybe Earth-like planets are destined to some form of creature able to manipulate the world around them to a large degree.
Arf