Dinosaur-era bird with scythe-like beak sheds light on avian diversity


  • World
  • Thursday, 26 Nov 2020

An artist’s reconstruction of the bird Falcatakely forsterae that lived 68 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period in Madagascar. Illustration by Mark Witton/Handout via REUTERS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A delicate but exquisitely preserved skull of a crow-sized bird with a scythe-like beak that inhabited Madagascar 68 million years ago is showing scientists that they have a lot of learn about avian diversity during the age of dinosaurs.

Scientists on Wednesday said the bird, called Falcatakely forsterae, possessed a face unlike any other known bird from the age of dinosaurs - the Mesozoic Era - not only because of the beak shape but because of its underlying anatomy.

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