Fossil birds pollinate plants

Scientists at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt (Germany) have described a supposedly oldest fossil bird compared to previously collected specimens of a plant pollinating a plant.

Thanks to the fossil's stomach, it is preserved well over time, so scientists discovered and determined to contain a variety of pollen from different plants. The dating shows at least the link between flowers and birds from 47 million years ago.

Fossil birds pollinate plants

This fossil bird was collected from the area known as the "Missel Pit" (Germany), which once collected many famous fossils. The full article has been published in Biology Letters.

This bird flies from one flower to the other, with its slender beak that helps pollinate plants, which is very important to help plants reproduce. Particularly in tropical and subtropical regions, birds also participate in pollination for plants equally active as insects.

Science Daily quoted Dr. Gerald Mayr as saying there was a suggestion of a bird's pollinated body but there was no concrete evidence like this fossil.

So far only a few samples of hummingbirds that lived about 30 million years ago provide rather vague evidence that vertebrates help plants reproduce.

Fossil samples dating back 47 million years show that many pollen grains of different sizes are well preserved in its body.