Cambridge University researchers say how the modern bird skull came to be needs to be re-evaluated.
The skeleton fossil that led to the discovery was found in a rock the size of a grapefruit
Findings published in Nature show the mobile beak, which characterises 99% of modern birds, evolved before the extinction of all large dinosaurs.Cambridge University researchers said it suggests how the modern bird skull came to be needs to be re-evaluated. The fossil was found in a limestone quarry near the Belgian-Dutch border in the 1990s and was first studied in 2002.Dr Daniel Field, the paper's senior author, said: "The main reason this assumption has lasted is that we haven't had any well-preserved fossil bird palates from the period when modern birds originated."
Ostriches, emus and their relatives are classified into the palaeognath or "ancient jaw" group, and all other groups of birds are classified into the neognath or "modern jaw" group.
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