Guess what? Birds started evolving way before the dinosaurs bowed out! 🦖➡️🦜
A new study just dropped in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, revealing that our feathered friends began their journey much earlier than we thought.
Scientists from the Chinese mainland and the United States analyzed the genomes of 124 living bird species. They crafted a detailed family tree for Neoaves—a group that includes 95% of all modern birds. 🐦🌳
They discovered that birds split into two main groups: land lovers and water dwellers. This big divide happened during the Late Cretaceous period, about 87 million years ago! That's way before the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs around 66 million years ago. 😲⏳
This shakes up the old idea that birds only started diversifying rapidly after the dinosaurs were gone. It turns out, birds were already spreading their wings and exploring new horizons while T-Rex was still stomping around! 🌍🦖
\"The extinction event seems to have had a limited impact on birds' evolution,\" said Professor Wu Shaoyuan from Jiangsu Normal University.
But wait, there's more! The study also found that a global warming event 55 million years ago led to the evolution of modern seabirds like penguins and seagulls. 🐧🌊
\"Our findings give a more complete picture of how birds evolved,\" said co-author Zhou Zhonghe from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. \"Bird evolution is a gradual and continuous process driven by natural selection, much like plants, mammals, fish, and insects.\"
So next time you see a bird soaring in the sky, remember—these aerial adventurers have a history that's older and more epic than we ever imagined! ✨🕊️
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
