Latest news with #AntarcticPeninsulaPaleontologyProject
CNN
05-02-2025
- Science
- CNN
Skull fossil discovery reveals oldest known modern bird
A near complete skull fossil found in Antarctica has revealed the oldest known modern bird — a mallard duck-size creature related to the waterfowl that live by lakes and oceans today, a new study has found. The 68 million-year-old fossil belongs to an extinct species of bird known as Vegavis iaai that lived at the end of the Cretaceous period, when Tyrannosaurus rex dominated North America and just before a city-size asteroid hit Earth, dooming the dinosaurs to extinction. Birds that lived among the dinosaurs were barely recognizable when compared with today's bird species. Many sported bizarre features such as toothed beaks and long, bony tails. Vegavis, however, would have been ducklike in size and similar ecologically to aquatic bird species such as loons, said Christopher Torres, an assistant professor of biology at the University of the Pacific in California and lead author of the study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. 'So this bird was a foot-propelled pursuit diver. It used its legs to propel itself underwater as it swam, and something that we were able to observe directly from this new skull was it had jaw musculature (that) was associated with snapping its mouth shut underwater in pursuit of fish. And that is a lifestyle that we observe broadly among loons and grebes,' he said. Paleontologists first described Vegavis 20 years ago, but many were skeptical that it represented a modern or crown bird species. Most modern bird fossils that had been unearthed at that point dated to after the dinosaur-killing asteroid struck off the coast of what's now Mexico 66 million years ago. Many scientists assumed that modern-looking birds began to evolve after and perhaps in response to the mass extinction. Previous Vegavis fossil specimens also lacked a complete skull, said study coauthor Patrick O'Connor, a professor of anatomical sciences at Ohio University. Skulls are where the most characteristic features of modern birds, such as a lack of teeth and an enlarged premaxillary bone in the upper beak, can be identified. The fossil examined in the study, collected during a 2011 expedition by the Antarctic Peninsula Paleontology Project, was found encased in rock that dated back 68.4 to 69.2 million years and displayed modern characteristics, such as a toothless beak, according to the study. 'The new fossil shows Vegavis is undoubtedly a modern bird (something that was challenged in the past) and is an exceptional find preserving a strange and surprising morphology,' said Juan Benito Moreno, a fellow in the department of earth sciences at the University of Cambridge and an expert on fossil birds, in an email. 'The new skull of Vegavis shows a very specialized morphology for diving and fish eating, more so than I would have expected,' added Moreno, who was not involved in the study but was involved in the discovery of the only other known modern bird species from the Cretaceous. The brain shape revealed by the new fossil, which researchers scanned using computerized tomography to create a three-dimensional reconstruction, was also characteristic of modern birds, according to the study. Together, these features place Vegavis in the group that includes all modern birds, and the fossil skull represents 'the earliest member of this entire radiation that we see around us today, that consists of 11,000 bird species,' O'Connor said. While Vegavis resembled present-day waterfowl in some ways, other features didn't fit the mold. For instance, the study noted that the skull preserves traces of a slender, pointed beak powered by enhanced jaw muscles, a feature that is more like diving birds than other known waterfowl. 'Antarctica at 69 million years ago didn't look like it did today. It was actually forested. It was a cool, temperate climate based on most of our modeling, and this animal, we recovered it in a marine rock unit so we would envision that it was doing this pursuit diving in a nearshore, marine environment,' O'Connor added. Torres, who was a postdoctoral fellow studying avian paleontology at Ohio University when he conducted the research, said the discovery of the Vegavis fossil in Antarctica and a fossil of an extinct bird species known as Conflicto antarcticus from a nearby location dating from shortly after dinosaurs' extinction would allow paleontologists to investigate how some animals survived the cataclysmic event. 'What happens to the survivors? What determines, number one, what a survivor is, and number two, what are the survivors going to look like after one of these catastrophic events?' he said.
CNN
05-02-2025
- Science
- CNN
Skull fossil discovery reveals oldest known modern bird
A near complete skull fossil found in Antarctica has revealed the oldest known modern bird — a mallard duck-size creature related to the waterfowl that live by lakes and oceans today, a new study has found. The 68 million-year-old fossil belongs to an extinct species of bird known as Vegavis iaai that lived at the end of the Cretaceous period, when Tyrannosaurus rex dominated North America and just before a city-size asteroid hit Earth, dooming the dinosaurs to extinction. Birds that lived among the dinosaurs were barely recognizable when compared with today's bird species. Many sported bizarre features such as toothed beaks and long, bony tails. Vegavis, however, would have been ducklike in size and similar ecologically to aquatic bird species such as loons, said Christopher Torres, an assistant professor of biology at the University of the Pacific in California and lead author of the study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. 'So this bird was a foot-propelled pursuit diver. It used its legs to propel itself underwater as it swam, and something that we were able to observe directly from this new skull was it had jaw musculature (that) was associated with snapping its mouth shut underwater in pursuit of fish. And that is a lifestyle that we observe broadly among loons and grebes,' he said. Paleontologists first described Vegavis 20 years ago, but many were skeptical that it represented a modern or crown bird species. Most modern bird fossils that had been unearthed at that point dated to after the dinosaur-killing asteroid struck off the coast of what's now Mexico 66 million years ago. Many scientists assumed that modern-looking birds began to evolve after and perhaps in response to the mass extinction. Previous Vegavis fossil specimens also lacked a complete skull, said study coauthor Patrick O'Connor, a professor of anatomical sciences at Ohio University. Skulls are where the most characteristic features of modern birds, such as a lack of teeth and an enlarged premaxillary bone in the upper beak, can be identified. The fossil examined in the study, collected during a 2011 expedition by the Antarctic Peninsula Paleontology Project, was found encased in rock that dated back 68.4 to 69.2 million years and displayed modern characteristics, such as a toothless beak, according to the study. 'The new fossil shows Vegavis is undoubtedly a modern bird (something that was challenged in the past) and is an exceptional find preserving a strange and surprising morphology,' said Juan Benito Moreno, a fellow in the department of earth sciences at the University of Cambridge and an expert on fossil birds, in an email. 'The new skull of Vegavis shows a very specialized morphology for diving and fish eating, more so than I would have expected,' added Moreno, who was not involved in the study but was involved in the discovery of the only other known modern bird species from the Cretaceous. The brain shape revealed by the new fossil, which researchers scanned using computerized tomography to create a three-dimensional reconstruction, was also characteristic of modern birds, according to the study. Together, these features place Vegavis in the group that includes all modern birds, and the fossil skull represents 'the earliest member of this entire radiation that we see around us today, that consists of 11,000 bird species,' O'Connor said. While Vegavis resembled present-day waterfowl in some ways, other features didn't fit the mold. For instance, the study noted that the skull preserves traces of a slender, pointed beak powered by enhanced jaw muscles, a feature that is more like diving birds than other known waterfowl. 'Antarctica at 69 million years ago didn't look like it did today. It was actually forested. It was a cool, temperate climate based on most of our modeling, and this animal, we recovered it in a marine rock unit so we would envision that it was doing this pursuit diving in a nearshore, marine environment,' O'Connor added. Torres, who was a postdoctoral fellow studying avian paleontology at Ohio University when he conducted the research, said the discovery of the Vegavis fossil in Antarctica and a fossil of an extinct bird species known as Conflicto antarcticus from a nearby location dating from shortly after dinosaurs' extinction would allow paleontologists to investigate how some animals survived the cataclysmic event. 'What happens to the survivors? What determines, number one, what a survivor is, and number two, what are the survivors going to look like after one of these catastrophic events?' he said.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Antarctic skull sheds light on ancient birds 69 million years ago
A 69-million-year-old skull found in Antarctica belonged to what scientists say is the oldest known modern bird. An early relative of the continent's ducks and geese, it lived off the Antarctic coast during the Cretaceous Period, at around the same time as the famous Tyrannosaurus rex. 'This fossil underscores that Antarctica has much to tell us about the earliest stages of modern bird evolution,' Dr. Patrick O'Connor, a professor at Ohio University and the director of Earth and Space Sciences at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, said in a statement announcing the finding. O'Connor is the co-author of a related study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. It was found during an expedition in 2011 by the Antarctic Peninsula Paleontology Project. Understanding how the region helped to shape modern ecosystems is currently being researched. 'Antarctica is in many ways the final frontier for humanity's understanding of life during the Age of Dinosaurs,' said co-author Dr. Matthew Lamanna, of Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The skull itself is long, with a pointed beak and a brain shape that is unique among all known birds previously discovered from the Mesozoic Era, which includes the Cretaceous Period. The features, the researchers said, belong to an extinct bird named Vegavis iaai — and place it in the group that includes all modern birds. Vegavis was first reported 20 years ago by University of Texas at Austin co-author Dr. Julia Clarke. It was proposed to be an early member of modern waterfowl like ducks and geese. But, such birds are exceptionally rare before the end-Cretaceous extinction event and this study is the first with a nearly complete skull. The skull has preserved its powerful jaw muscles, unlike today's waterfowl, and its features are consistent with clues suggesting that Vegavis used its feet to propel itself underwater. 'Few birds are as likely to start as many arguments among paleontologists as Vegavis,' says lead author Dr. Christopher Torres, a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Ohio University's Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, said. 'This new fossil is going to help resolve a lot of those arguments. Chief among them: where is Vegavis perched in the bird tree of life?'
The Independent
05-02-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Antarctic skull sheds light on ancient birds 69 million years ago
A 69-million-year-old skull found in Antarctica belonged to what scientists say is the oldest known modern bird. An early relative of the continent's ducks and geese, it lived off the Antarctic coast during the Cretaceous Period, at around the same time as the famous Tyrannosaurus rex. 'This fossil underscores that Antarctica has much to tell us about the earliest stages of modern bird evolution,' Dr. Patrick O'Connor, a professor at Ohio University and the director of Earth and Space Sciences at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, said in a statement announcing the finding. O'Connor is the co-author of a related study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. It was found during an expedition in 2011 by the Antarctic Peninsula Paleontology Project. Understanding how the region helped to shape modern ecosystems is currently being researched. 'Antarctica is in many ways the final frontier for humanity's understanding of life during the Age of Dinosaurs,' said co-author Dr. Matthew Lamanna, of Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The skull itself is long, with a pointed beak and a brain shape that is unique among all known birds previously discovered from the Mesozoic Era, which includes the Cretaceous Period. The features, the researchers said, belong to an extinct bird named Vegavis iaai — and place it in the group that includes all modern birds. Vegavis was first reported 20 years ago by University of Texas at Austin co-author Dr. Julia Clarke. It was proposed to be an early member of modern waterfowl like ducks and geese. But, such birds are exceptionally rare before the end-Cretaceous extinction event and this study is the first with a nearly complete skull. The skull has preserved its powerful jaw muscles, unlike today's waterfowl, and its features are consistent with clues suggesting that Vegavis used its feet to propel itself underwater. 'Few birds are as likely to start as many arguments among paleontologists as Vegavis,' says lead author Dr. Christopher Torres, a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Ohio University's Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, said. 'This new fossil is going to help resolve a lot of those arguments. Chief among them: where is Vegavis perched in the bird tree of life?'
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
After the asteroid, the earliest bird ancestors thrived in Antarctica
With its glaciers and sub-zero temperatures, Antarctica hardly seems like a place of refuge. However, the now icy continent might have been just that for the early ancestors of today's living waterbirds–especially after an asteroid slammed into the Earth. A newly described fossil indicates that an early relative of ducks and geese called Vegavis iaai lived in Antarctica the same time that Tyrannosaurus rex was stomping around North America. The fossil is described in a study published February 5 in the journal Nature and shows that the continent was a key location in bird evolution. After a dinosaur-killing asteroid struck the Earth near the Yucatán Peninsula in present day Mexico about 66 million years ago, about 75 percent of species on Earth eventually went extinct. However, Antarctica may have been somewhat protected because of its distance from the impact site. Fossil evidence suggests that the landmass had a temperate climate with lush vegetation, so it could have been the perfect location for the earliest members of the avian group that now includes geese and ducks. The fossil in this new study was collected in 2011 during an expedition by the Antarctic Peninsula Paleontology Project. It is a nearly complete Vegavis iaai skull, one of the earliest known birds dating back to the latest part of the Cretaceous Period (roughly 69.2 to 68.4 million years ago). The authors generated a near-complete three-dimensional reconstruction of the new skull to study its anatomy. They found that Vegavis has a long, pointed beak and a brain shape that is considered unique among all of the known birds previously discovered from the Mesozoic Era–which includes the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous Periods. During the Mesozoic, non-avian dinosaurs and an eclectic collection of early birds such as Archaeopteryx flew in different parts of the Earth. Vegavis' long beak and brain shape place it in the group that includes all modern birds and represents the earliest evidence of birds' eventual widespread distribution across the planet. Vegavis was first reported 20 years ago by study co-author Julia Clarke from The University of Texas at Austin and several colleagues. Initially, it was proposed as an early member of modern birds within the waterfowl group. However, modern birds are very rare in the fossil record from before the end-Cretaceous extinction, and more recent studies have shed some doubt on where Vegavis should be on the bird evolutionary tree. 'Few birds are as likely to start as many arguments among paleontologists as Vegavis,' Christopher Torres, a study co-author and paleontologist at the University of the Pacific, said in a statement. 'This new fossil is going to help resolve a lot of those arguments. Chief among them: where is Vegavis perched in the bird tree of life?' The nearly complete skull detailed in this new study puts some of that skepticism to rest. It shows several traits including the shape of the brain and beak bones that are consistent with that of modern birds, and waterfowl specifically. One of the main differences between modern waterflow is that Vegavis' skull has traces of powerful jaw muscles that were useful for overcoming water resistance while diving to snatch fish. Additionally, the skull features and other parts of its skeleton suggest that Vegavis used its feet for underwater propulsion while pursuing fish and other prey. This feeding strategy is more like what gerbes and loons use. [ Related: All living birds share an 'iridescent' ancestor. ] The known birds discovered in other parts of the planet from the late Cretaceous Period are barely recognizable by modern bird standards. Additionally, most of the sites that preserve delicate bird fossils from the Cretaceous yield specimens that are so incomplete that scientists can only get hints at their identity. 'This fossil underscores that Antarctica has much to tell us about the earliest stages of modern bird evolution,' study co-author and Ohio University paleontologist Patrick O'Connor said in a statement. 'And those few places with any substantial fossil record of Late Cretaceous birds, like Madagascar and Argentina, reveal an aviary of bizarre, now-extinct species with teeth and long bony tails, only distantly related to modern birds. Something very different seems to have been happening in the far reaches of the Southern Hemisphere, specifically in Antarctica.'
