As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Monday, 27 January 2014

Old bird, New World: Did the South American hoatzins originate in Europe?

Date: January 22, 2014

Source: Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum

Summary: The oldest fossil discoveries from France show that hoatzins once existed in Europe.


The oldest fossil discoveries from France show that hoatzins once existed in Europe.

Where did hoatzins come from? These unusual birds, only one species of which exists in South America today, originated in the Old World. Studies of the oldest known fossils of Hoatzin ancestors have now shown that these birds existed around 34 million years ago in Europe. Paleornithologists at the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung and Flinders University in Adelaide published their findings this week in the specialist journal Naturwissenschaften.



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