A team of researchers who recently studied fossils of creatures that became extinct about 45,000 years ago say that an Ice Age bird that weighed twice as much as an ostrich had adapted to a watery environment. Bone based root bird bird newton The animal, found in South Australia’s Lake Calabona, weighed about 500 pounds (230 kilograms), five times the size of the fearsome southern cassowary. The most recent set of remains, discovered in 2019, included a skull nearly feet long.
The only other known skull Bigornis It was discovered in 1913 and was severely damaged. 128 years later, new fossils and new techniques allow the team to draw more detailed conclusions about the life and times of the giant bird. Their research is publish Today in Historical Biology.
Jacob Blokland, a palaeontologist at Flinders University and co-author of the paper, said in an email to Gizmodo that Lake Calabona “is a bit like a megafauna graveyard.” “This site has been recorded since the late 1800s but has likely been part of Aboriginal knowledge for much longer.”
“at this time Bigornis “It was considered a ‘stronger bird’, more closely related to the cassowary and emus, so later reconstructions suffered,” added Brockland.
The team’s research shakes those conclusions. The bird has a parrot-like upper jaw, but is shaped like a goose (hence its name, in Taylor and Francis’ work) release). It had a large skull and a helmet, which was an enlarged portion of the bones on top of its head. Although the animal has been compared to larger birds due to its larger size, recent studies have found that the animal is morphologically similar to modern waterfowl such as South American waterfowl. screamer.
“New skull material Bigornis revealed several special features of the goose-like beak and skull that were associated with the bird dipping its skull in water. The bird must have spent at least some of its time foraging in the water, perhaps eating soft waterweed or new shoots. Its hind limbs were also adapted for the ability to cross hard ground, and it may have traveled from lake to lake, eating fruit along the way.
root bird bird It became extinct around 45,000 years ago, meaning it shared the planet with anatomically modern humans and even Neanderthals (although the latter were not in Australia). There is no archaeological or anthropological evidence that humans and Bigornis Although they did live in the same area at the same time, they interacted.
“We can’t say for certain why Bigornis Phoebe McInerney, a paleontologist at Australia’s Flinders University and lead author of the study, said in an email to Gizmodo: “However, the skulls show that these birds had adapted to the environment in and around water, which suggests that they lived in and relied on Semi-aquatic environment.”
“During that time Bigornis “At the time, South Australia’s inland lakes were going through a dry phase and were slowly transitioning to the salty and dry state they have today,” McInerney added. “This could have resulted in Bigornis Locally extinct in the area.
Although the reason for its disappearance Although still uncertain, the bird’s morphology and its ecological niche are now clearer. More fossils may continue to deepen paleontologists’ understanding of this giant goose-like forager.
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