Scientists Discovered A Rare Fossil From A Giant 500 Pound Bird That Lived In The Forests Of Australia 45,000 Years Ago
About 45,000 years ago, a now-extinct species of giant, flightless bird called Genyornis newtoni tramped through the forests of Australia.
They are known as thunder birds or mihirungs, an Aboriginal term for “giant bird.” These creatures stood over six feet tall and weighed up to 500 pounds.
For more than 100 years, scientists have been trying to locate skull fossils of the birds without success.
In the past, the only skull that was ever found was badly damaged and couldn’t give researchers much information.
Now, a well-preserved fossil of the bird’s skull has been discovered for the first time, allowing researchers to better understand what the bird’s head looked like, as well as its behavior and ancestry.
G. newtoni belonged to the family Dromornithidae, a group of large, flightless birds that appeared roughly 55 million years ago in the fossil record. Their fossils have been unearthed throughout Australia since the 19th century.
Between 2013 and 2019, a team of paleontologists conducted a series of excavations at the Lake Callabonna Fossil Reserve in southern Australia, where they found six fossils and the nearly complete skull of G. newtoni, which has shed new light on the species.
The skull of G. newtoni is much like that of other dromornithids. However, its long upper jaw is out of the ordinary.
It has a wide, rounded top and a bump in front of the eyes, which may have been used as a way to attract mates. The bird’s diet likely consisted mainly of fruits and leaves.
Martin Valigursky – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
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The skull showed evidence of adaptations that made the bird well-suited for living near bodies of water.
For instance, its nostrils were located far back by the eyes, a feature that helped with feeding underwater.
Additionally, the ear was separated from regions involving jaw movement, so the bird was able to submerge its head without water getting into its ears.
G. newtoni did not have obvious characteristics that would indicate they live near water, like duck bills or webbed feet, but they share similarities to two modern waterfowl species—South American screamers and Australian magpie geese.
With this latest discovery, scientists can finally reconstruct the bird’s likeness and piece together its evolution.
The region they once inhabited was filled with freshwater bodies that have since dried up, possibly contributing to the extinction of the birds.
The details of the new findings are published in the journal Historical Biology.
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