Remains of the oldest modern bird found

Scientists from the National Science Foundation of the United States confirmed that the remains of an almost complete skull fossil, found encased in a rock during an expedition to Antarctica in 2011, belong to the oldest modern bird in history located to the present.

According to the review published in the journal Nature, the 68-million-year-old fossil corresponds to an extinct species of bird known as Vegavis iaai, the size of a mallard and related to aquatic birds, which today live near lakes and other bodies of water.

The aforementioned species inhabited the planet at the end of the Cretaceous period, just before the impact of the enormous asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, around 66 million years ago. (Granma Digital) (Photo: Taken from the Internet)