Primitive birds share the same fate with dinosaurs

A new study has put an end to how long the debate about extinct ancient birds has been, research has shown that they have been virtually wiped out by the effects of meteorites simultaneously. ending the fate of dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

For decades, scientists have argued that whether birds from the Cretaceous period - very different from modern birds, have died slowly or been suddenly killed by meteorites. . This argument comes in part from the fact that very few fossils of birds at the end of the century have been discovered.

Now, a group of ancient biologists led by researcher Nicholas Longrich of Yale University has provided clear evidence that many primitive birds survive until the impact of meteorites. They identified and determined the time of a large collection of fossil birds representing a variety of different species, many of which still live within 300,000 years with meteorite effects.

Longrich said: "This proves that many species have become extinct all of a sudden, during geological changes." This study was published in the week from September 19 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science magazine .

The team examined a large collection of nearly 24 bird fossils discovered in North America - representing species that existed in the Cretaceous - from the collections of Yale Peabody's Natural History Museum, American Museum of Natural History, University of California Museum of Ancient Biology and Royal Museum of Saskatchewan. The fossil bird sample from the Cretaceous is extremely rare, Longrich said, because bird bones are so small and fragile that they are easily damaged or swept away in streams.

The bones from 17 extinct Cretaceous birds of the same time period with dinosaurs. The left bones are the leg bones and the rest is the shoulder bones. (Source: Sciencedaily.com)

"The birds discovered have not been studied really seriously , " Longrich said. "We have examined in more detail the relationships between bones and birds than anyone else has done before."

Longrich believes that a small part of Cretaceous birds survived the impact of meteorites that maintained and enriched birds today. The birds he examined showed much more diversity than what has not been seen in birds since the end of the Cretaceous, the size of starlings can be equal to a small goose. Some have long mines full of teeth.

However, modern birds are still very different from those that existed during the late Cretaceous, Longrich said. For example, birds today have grown on a large scale with many specialized features and living practices, from penguins, hummingbirds to flamingos, while primitive birds occupy only one area. micro-narrow in the ecosystem.

"Basic sketches have been carried out, all the specialized features are primarily developed after mass extinction, when birds re-grow with the diversity of today , " Longrich said. "It is similar to what happened to mammals after the period of the dinosaurs."

Longrich adds, this study is not a pioneer to show that ancient birds abruptly abort."There is evidence that these birds have been wiped out at the same time as dinosaurs , " Longrich said. "But the new evidence has a decisive effect, ending the debate."