Chinese Fossils Link Modern Birds To Water Dwelling Ancestors
Megan Shannon - All Headline News Staff Writer (AHN) - Chinese fossils may conclude that modern birds, from ostriches to bald eagles, evolved from ancestors who lived in water. Five 110-year-old fossils were found with preservation detail like feet webbing, which indicates the animals were well-adapted to the water, BBC reports. The specimens found were of the Gansus yumenensis species, which is the oldest known members of the group which includes modern birds, reports say. Scientists say these findings are critical in learning the avian evolutionary process. "Every bird living today, from ostiches... to bald eagles, probably evolved from a Gansus-like ancestor," Matthew Lamanna of Carnegie Natural History Museum in Pittsburgh told BBC in a news conference. It was not too long ago when the Gansus yumenensis was first described from fossil findings. In 1983 the specimen was described from a fissile leg. Now scientists have almost a full view of the animal from later discoveries. Jerald Harris, of Dixie State College of Utah said the Gansus species looks very much like modern birds. He said an untrained eye would have difficulty telling the ancestor and modern birds apart. He said the Gansus looks very much like a duck because of its webbed feet and strong legs for swimming. Harris went on to say that the birds found living on land during the same time the Gansus was around became extinct. Studies show that t |
