66 million years ago, Antarctica was lush, temperate, and home to the oldest modern bird and T-Rex
A recently analyzed near-complete fossil skull found in Antarctica has revealed Vegavis iaai to be the oldest known modern bird, according to a study published in Nature.
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.
Paleontologists Discover Fossil of the Oldest Known Modern Bird—but It Raises More Questions Than It Answers
Paleontologists have been arguing whether modern birds developed before or after the infamous asteroid for decades. Now, a team of researchers has analyzed a 69-million-year-old fossil belonging to the long-extinct bird Vegavis iaai that could put the discussion to rest.
Skull fossil discovery reveals oldest known modern bird
A 68-million-year-old skull fossil found in Antarctica has revealed the oldest known modern bird, which was likely related to the waterfowl that live by lakes and oceans today, according to new research.
69-million-year-old skull found in Antarctica is oldest ‘modern’ bird
The near-complete fossil skull, unearthed on Vega Island near the Antarctic Peninsula, reveals a bird that thrived in the challenging waters off Antarctica roughly 69 million years ago, just three million years before the dinosaur-killing asteroid impact.
Ancient relative of geese is the earliest known modern bird
A newly analysed fossil skull settles a palaeontological debate over Vegavis iaai, confirming it as a relative of ducks and geese that lived 69 million years ago
Fossilised 69-million-year-old skull of oldest known modern bird discovered
The new skull exhibits a long, pointed beak and a brain shape unique among all known birds previously discovered from the Mesozoic Era.
Remarkable Fossil Discovery Hints at Antarctic Origins of All Modern Birds
A near-perfect fossilized skull discovered in Antarctica reveals the bridge between prehistoric and modern birds, a new study has found. The fossil is a specimen of a species called Vegavis iaai, which lived around 69 million years ago – more than 2 million years before the mass extinction that wiped out all non-avian dinosaurs.
Ancient bird skull from Antarctica might be from early duck relative
The skull, from an ancient relative of ducks and geese known as Vegavis iaai, suggests that the key characteristics of modern birds were already in place 69 million years ago. Birds evolved from dinosaurs millions of years ago – but the route from these avian ancestors to now is largely mysterious.
Ancient duck-like creature discovered in Antarctica may be the oldest modern bird ever discovered
A new and nearly complete skull of Vegavis iaai discovered in Antarctica suggests that modern birds originated before the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.
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Antarctica's Ancient Avians & Other Science Marvels
A fossil from Antarctica unveils the oldest-known modern bird, Vegavis iaai, dating back 69 million years. In Chile, ...
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This 69-Million-Year-Old Duck-like Skull Reveals How Modern Birds Survived the Dinosaurs
In the icy wilderness of Antarctica, where glaciers now dominate the landscape, scientists have unearthed a fossil that ...
The Search for the Original Silly Goose in the Fossil Record
Some paleontologists think that fossils recovered from Antarctica are evidence of birds similar to modern geese and ducks ...