A fossil bird's nest has been discovered
in Spain, cradling at least five eggs that scientists believe belonged to an ancient
flamingo some 18 million years ago.
The nest was found in a limestone block
in the Ebro Basin in northeastern Spain. The researchers think it was abandoned
and sunk to the bottom of a shallow, salty lake (which once also housed snakes,
turtles and crocodiles) before being covered in mud and fossilizing during the
early Miocene.
Scans of the eggshell fragments revealed
microscopic features that closely match that of the modern flamingo's eggs.
However, the type of nest the eggs sit in is much different from the type the
birds build today.
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