Theory #1 -based on the discovery of a 240-million-year-old fossil archosaur, paleontologists theorize that dinosaurs split off early from the crocodile family tree. the journal nature describes asilisaurus kongwe as a dog-sized, plant-eating dinosaur precursor. asilisaurus lived during the triassic period, when crocodile-like beasts ruled the earth, with dinosaurs becoming dominant some 35 million years later. theory #2 - almost 20 years of research on the morphology of birds and dinosaurs support a different theory: that birds may have had an ancient common ancestor with dinosaurs, but they evolved separately on their own path and after millions of years, birds also gave rise to the raptors. small animals such as velociraptors, that have generally been thought to be dinosaurs, are more likely flightless birds according to this theory. compare the two theories regarding the evolution of dinosaurs and then consider the cladogram above. although the two theories differ on the evolutionary path of dinosaurs, they agree that