From an outback fossil site located in central Australia, a pair of legs belonging presumably to the largest bird species ever to have walked our planet’s surface were discovered. Amazingly, there could be more remains nearby that are still available and waiting to be excavated.
One paleontologist describes it as “an amazing fossil.”Extreme evolutionary changes“, Stirton’s thunderbirdDromornis stirtoniIt has a variety of strange anatomical characteristics. Its large beak protrudes from a skull that is too small. The body of the bird measures 3 meters (10 ft) high and can weigh up to half an ounce.
To make the animal seem even more ridiculous, these lumbering giants of 8 million years old are actually Related to modern-day fowlThey are similar to chickens or ducks.
Although the large ‘demon ducks” are certainly heavyweights it is difficult to get a precise measurement of their size from jumbles. This new discovery could make it easier for models to determine the true sizes of these animals. Dromornis species.
These massive, flightless birds were discovered for the first time. They have been laid out in a manner that was similar to what they looked like inside a once-living animal.
A huge moment at #alcoota2022With the very first articulated Dromornis stirtoni leg, excavated from Classy Corner. We are grateful @PhoebyornisScale! #fossilfriday @fupalaeosoc @FlindersPalaeo pic.twitter.com/mJaKvacOtg
— Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (@MAG_NT) July 22, 2022
Adam Yates (paleontologist and curator of Earth sciences at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory), explained to ScienceAlert that this means the carcass was complete when it was buried.”
“We only got the legs below because that was all we did. There’s every expectation that a large part of the rest of the skeleton – if not the entire skeleton – might be lying in the next dig as we dig further into the bank that the legs come from.”
The fossilized bones of the bones were discovered in AlcootaReserve is a dense fossil site located 190km north-east from Alice Springs and home to one of Australia’s largest concentrations terrestrial vertebrate remains. This location is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There were thousands of fossilized piecesThe remains have been mixed up by floodwaters since 1986 when excavations started there.
Alcoota fossils require careful sorting and reconstructions that involve parts of many animals. These composite reconstructions require a lot of creativity and can sometimes make mistakes.
“Even if you get all the species right – you put the right bones with the right species all together – you’re still going to have proportional errors because of course there’s natural variation between individuals,” explains Yates.
These new legs can give researchers a better idea of the animal’s true dimensions. This is an exciting discovery. This will help paleontologists identify more animals. D. stirtoniAlcoota’s bones are sorted from the other jumbled dinosaurs.
Deb’s drumstick is now in one piece. #FossilFriday pic.twitter.com/lrtzobn0oP
— Sam Arman (@Samosthenurus) September 2, 2022
Warren Handley, Yates and other colleagues, Flinders University paleontologist, had previously An assortment can be comparedThe jumbled D. stirtoniThey discovered bones in the area, and were able identify a size difference between males and women.
They took bone samples and identified a kind of tissue they called medullary bonesIn the smaller specimens. Yates explained that this is a temporary calcium store that females use to shell their eggs.
Researchers suspect that the remains belonged to a female based on the size of newly discovered leg bones. D. stirtoniDeb, as the team call her. To confirm their suspicions, they plan to conduct a histology study.
Deb’s fossils will be temporarily displayed at the museum in the meantime. Take care of your carpetsHardened With a plastic AcetateAny gaps can be filled The bones will be kept for future research.
Only trace evidence of thunderbirds has been found in Australia since the end of the Miocene. These chickens, which had small, thin wings and were ridiculously inflated, did not have the specialized keeledsternum other birds depend on to support their large flight muscle attachments. They likely hunted in dry forests and used their enormous beaks for food, such as fruit and other vegetation.
Alcoota also contained other herbivores that were dated to the same period, including marsupials like wallabies or their cow-sized cousins the wombats.
These findings suggest D. stirtoni was the tall browser of this dry ecosystem, akin to today’s camels – using its height to reach the vegetation beyond the grasp of its smaller fellow herbivores, Yates explains.
Yates explains that it wasn’t a mammal who stepped up to the role; it was a bird.
Fossil recordsThese magnificent birds and their relatives may have existed for a staggering 25-million year period. Australia was becoming less populated at the end of the Miocene age. Too fast D. stirtoniTo adapt.
Yates mentions that young thunderbird fossils have been extremely difficult to find. This is a sign that the animals didn’t have a high rate of reproduction, possibly producing only one or two eggs per year. It took the bird a long time to mature. DromornisIt took 15 yearsto attain adult size and sexual maturity.”
These characteristics are well-knownFor making animals more vulnerable to changes in the environment.
Yates plans to return to the field next year to find an articulated wallaby in the same corner of the fossil deposit that the paleontologist discovered Deb. He believes that there are more fossils of Deb in the dirt bank. There is also an intriguing possibility that articulated fossils from unknown species may be present at this site.
