Fossilized feather hints at bird survival of mass extinction
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
An international research team studying a 66-million-year-old fossilized dinosaur coprolite, fossilized excrement, discovered preserved feather fragments along with bones and scales.
The team examined the sample from a 2016 Montana dig site using micro-CT scans. They found the remains of an early bird called a hesperornitiform, a relative of modern birds, inside the coprolite. Scientists have long wondered why some bird species survived the mass extinction event that wiped out non-avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago, while others did not.
Researchers previously proposed that birds living near water had a better chance of survival. However, hesperornitiforms were also aquatic birds that went extinct. The team believes that differences in feather structure may explain the selective extinction. The discovered feathers showed both primitive and modern characteristics. The scientists hypothesize that more efficient feathers helped some birds conserve body heat during the post-asteroid impact period of low temperatures. Less effective feathers on hesperornitiforms might have contributed to their extinction.
The research suggests feather quality played a role in which birds endured the environmental changes following the asteroid impact.
