Artist’s reconstruction of the Wonderchicken, or Asteriornis maastrichtensis.Illustration: Phillip Krzeminski
A fantastic fossil found in Belgium is offering new insights into the ancient birds that gave rise to the ones still around today.
The researchers who analyzed the fossil, a team led by paleontologist Daniel Field from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, have dubbed it “Wonderchicken,” but their formal paper on the subject, published today in Nature, refers to this early bird as Asteriornis maastrichtensis.
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“We report a new crown bird from the Late Cretaceous of Belgium,” the authors declare in the new study. “The fossil is between 66.8 and 66.7 million years old—making it the oldest unambiguous crown bird fossil yet discovered—and provides important insight into the extent of Mesozoic neornithine diversification before the end-Cretaceous mass-extinction event, 66.02 million years ago.”
Artist’s reconstruction of the Wonderchicken, or Asteriornis maastrichtensis.Illustration: Phillip Krzeminski
It’s a wonderfully concise description of the new finding, though it’s packed with a lot of jargon that I’m happy to break down. In a nutshell, this discovery shows that modern birds emerged at the very tail-end of the dinosaur age, known as the Mesozoic. Asteriornis wasstomping on Late Cretaceous beaches just several hundred thousand years before an asteroid annihilated all non-avian dinosaurs.
By “crown bird,” the scientists are referring to the group of birds from which the common ancestor of all living birds is descended. Super early birds, like Archaeopteryx, Fukuipteryx, and Jeholornis, emerged between 145 million and 120 million years ago during the Jurassic, but these feathered avian dinosaurs scarcely resemble the birds who now hang out in our backyards. For example, these ancient “basal” birds, as they’re known, required a long time to mature, boasted long tails, and lacked a pygostyle—a plate located at the tip of the backbone, which modern birds use to prop their flight feathers.
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Basal birds are so far removed from crown birds that scientists can’t be sure which, if any, of their descendant species, known as neornithines, gave rise to modern birds.
Scientists do know that crown birds emerged during the ensuing Cretaceous period, but these animals are poorly represented in the fossil record. And in fact, paleontologists have only one decent example of a Cretaceous crown bird, a creature known as Vegavis iaai, plus a jumble of incomplete fossils that could come from crown birds. As a consequence, scientists don’t have a great understanding of the oldest modern birds, including their ecological circumstances, habitat, and immediate descendants.
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Hence the importance of the new fossil, which was found in the Maastricht Formation of Belgium. The Asteriornis fossil is now the most convincing example of a crown bird from the Mesozoic era, and it’s the first crown bird fossil from the dinosaur age to be found with a fully intact skull. So complete was the cranium that the researchers were able to study it in three dimensions, a feat made possible by an X-ray CT scanner.
Three-dimensional image of the skull of the world’s oldest modern bird, Asteriornis maastrichtensis. Image: Daniel J. Field, University of Cambridge
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The name Asteriornis comes from Asteria—the Greek god of falling stars who transformed into a quail. The new moniker is apt, with the falling stars representing the asteroid that triggered the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, and the quail representing fowl birds, to which Asteriornis bears a significant resemblance.
Indeed, physical analysis of the Asteriornis fossil revealed a mixed set of features consistent with both modern landfowls (also known as gamefowls) and waterfowls—two distinct but closely related evolutionary orders. Together, landfowls and gamefowls fit snugly inside a clade called Galloanserae, a group that includes ducks, chickens, turkey, geese, pheasants, and partridges. Fascinatingly, Asteriornis had cranial features common to chickens and ducks, which suggests its evolutionary position is near to the last common ancestor of chickens and ducks, according to the research.
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Asteriornis was relatively small, weighing a smidge under 400 grams (0.88 pounds). In an email to Gizmodo, Field said this bird would be roughly equal in size to some of the world’s smallest ducks and almost identical in size to the green-winged teal, a common duck found in North America. Asteriornis had a bill similar to those found in chicken-like birds, but without a sharp hooked tip. The shape of its bill probably means Asteriornis had a diverse diet, explained Field.
“However, unlike living duck-like birds and chicken-like birds, the fossil seems to have been quite ‘leggy,’ with fairly long and slender hindlimbs,” Field told Gizmodo. “This is interesting because the fossil was found in rocks that were laid down in a shallow marine environment. Therefore, we think Asteriornis may have prowled the ancient shorelines of Europe, which at the time would have had beaches similar to what we see in the Bahamas—the world was much warmer at the time!”
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Now, while Asteriornis may be the oldest known crown bird, it cannot be said that all birds living today are descended from it. In addition to Galloanserae, other living clades include Palaeognathae (a group that includes ostriches and related species) and Neoaves (basically all the other living birds, from parrots and robins through to woodpeckers and penguins).
“Asteriornis seems to be close to the most recent common ancestor of Galloanserae, so it seems like all 300 living species of chicken-like birds and 177-living species of duck-like birds may be descended from an Asteriornis-like bird,” said Field. “Palaeognathae like ostriches and kiwis, and Neoaves like penguins are not descended from Asteriornis. But, things like ducks, geese, swans, turkeys, chickens, pheasants, quail, and so on, may have descended from an Asteriornis-like bird.”
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As for Vegavis iaai, this alleged crown bird has now been knocked off its perch in terms of it being the oldest modern bird in the fossil record.
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The generally agreed upon age for Vegavis is 66.5 million years old, according to work done by paleontologists Daniel Ksepka and Julia Clarke. At an estimated 66.7 million years old, Asteriornis is a bit older. What’s more, Vegavis might not actually be a crown bird, as some phylogenetic analyses (the placement of a species within its evolutionary family tree) have actually positioned it outside crown birds, explained Field.
“Personally I do think Vegavis is a crown bird, but the evidence is not as clear as the evidence from Asteriornis,” Field told Gizmodo. “Having a skull from Vegavis would clarify the situation a lot.”
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As always, the search continues for more fossils, as scientists try to piece together the details of this fascinating and important stage in the evolution of birds.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
