Discover the oldest fossil of modern bird

Experts found a 66.7-66.8 million year-old skull of modern birds in a quarry in Belgium, near the border with the Netherlands.

A life-size model of a fossilized bird skull.(Photo: Guardian).

The fossil skull shows that the bird is only half the size of a blue-necked duck, appearing shortly before an asteroid crashed to Earth and wiped out the dinosaur 66 million years ago."This is the oldest evidence of modern birds to date," said Dr. Daniel Field, paleontologist at Cambridge University, who co-authored the study. The research was published in Nature March 18.

Birds are descendants of dinosaurs. However, the exact time they evolved into birds today is still a difficult question due to the lack of information from fossils. The newly discovered skull is stored in good condition and can provide useful information.

"This is a unique specimen. We call it Wonderchicken . To date, this is the only nearly complete skull of modern birds from the dinosaur period we have found. It can provide a lot of information about the early stages of bird evolution, " Field said.

Asteriornis maastrichtensis may have lived on the coast.(Photo: BBC).

The small bird was named Asteriornis maastrichtensis after the Greek goddess Asteria. The bird weighs approximately 400 g and belongs to the ancestral group of modern chickens, ducks and poultry. At that time, the Belgian-Dutch border area was covered in shallow waters with an environment similar to today's tropical beaches. With long and slender legs, Asteriornis maastrichtensis could have lived on the coast.

"Birds are an outstanding and important group of animals. So finding something new about modern bird development is remarkable for paleontologists and evolutionary biologists , " Field commented.

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