Shocking: An extinct bird 136,000 years ago reappeared

May 10, 2019

These native birds from Madagascar disappeared after a major flood 136,000 years ago, but scientists have discovered that there is a rare "iterative evolution".

A survey conducted by experts from the University of Portsmouth and the Museum of Natural History, determined that the last species of non – flying bird that survived in the Indian Ocean had already existed.

As published by the Zoological Journal of the Linnaean Society, Specialists found that on two separate occasions, thousands of years ago, a species of raid had been able to colonize an isolated atoll. and both times he lost his ability to fly.

The white-throated raid is a bird similar to a chicken, native to Madagascar. This species is considered a large colonizer of isolated islands and manages to reproduce in large quantities after emigrating from the island of origin. The most striking of this case is based on the fact that it is the first time that an iterative evolution occurs in these people.

A ghost bird appeared in Santiago del Estero

The researchers studied fossil remains dating back more than 100,000 years, when sea level had fallen during the next ice age and the atoll had been recolonized by non – flying exchanges. There, they compared the bones of a fossilized bird before the flood with those of another after this event.

Through these, they discovered that the bones of the wing showed an advanced state of absence of flight and that the ankle bones exhibited different properties that evolved towards the ankle. no flight. This means that one species from Madagascar has given birth to two different species of non – flying looters in Aldabra in the space of thousands of years..

A disaster caused the sudden disappearance of thousands of penguins

The principal investigator, Julian Hume "These unique fossils provide irrefutable evidence that one member of this family of birds has colonized the atoll, probably from Madagascar, and has lost the ability to fly at every opportunity. The fossil evidence presented here is unique to the Rálidos and embodies the ability of these birds to successfully colonize isolated islands and lose the ability to fly several times."