Some Birds Survived Asteroid That Killed Dinosaurs. Poop May Reveal How
Scientists have discovered well-preserved feathers inside fossilized dinosaur feces, providing new clues about how certain bird species survived the mass extinction 66 million years ago. The findings challenge previous theories that survival was solely dependent on living near water.
Why it matters
This research offers a rare glimpse into the evolutionary history of birds and the specific biological traits that allowed them to survive a global catastrophe.
One of the biggest mysteries in the history of this planet is how some birds made it alive out of the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Now, tiny feathers encased in fossilised poop may help scientists find the answer.The specimen found in Montana, United States, belonged to a bird that had once been eaten by a Tyrannosaurus rex or another predator, before the asteroid strike that started the mass extinction, as per a new study published in the journal Current Biology.The remains include the best-preserved feather ever extracted from deposits dating back to the Mesozoic era, or the age of the dinosaurs.The bones found with the feathers inside the coprolite, or fossilised faeces, belonged to a small, flightless diving bird similar to modern loons that did not survive the mass extinction, as per the research.The creature was part of a group known as Hesperornithiformes,…
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