Researchers working at Dinosaur Cove on the southern coast of Australia have discovered fossils of bird footprints from over 100 million years ago, making them the oldest ever found down under.
Researchers working at Dinosaur Cove on the southern coast of Australia have discovered fossils of bird footprints from over 100 million years ago, making them the oldest ever found down under.
Experts think that a large bird from the Early Cretaceous Period left the footprints behind for archaeologists to uncover, along with another footprint nearby from a non flying animal, which might have been part of the group of dinosaurs that included the T-Rex.
The prehistoric bird is believed to have been about the size of a modern day great egret, or a small heron.
Anthony Martin, a paleontologist at Emory University in Atlanta who worked on the study said: “These tracks are evidence that we had sizable flying birds living alongside other kinds of dinosaurs on these polar, river floodplains, about 105 million years ago. Tracks and other trace fossils offer clues to how non-avian dinosaurs and birds evolved and started occupying different ecological niches.”
The backward facing toe on the feet of some modern birds and featured in the ancient footprint gives researchers a clue about how these animals might have evolved over time.
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