Double Oops

The discovery of an ancient penguin fossil has shaken u a debate over when modern birds evolved, writes Jeff Hecht in New Scientist.

Paleontologists long believed that most birds and all dinosaurs died at around the same time, about 65 million years ago. The few avian survivors evolved rapidly to produce today's modern birds, who have little in common with their dinosaur-era forebears.

But according to some molecular biologists, the genes of modern birds suggest they were flying as far back as 100 million years ago, overlapping with dinosaurs. That theory gained credence after paleontologists described a bird fossil they called Waimanu, which looked like a penguin, had a cormorant-like head and lived in New Zealand about 62 million years ago.

It is the second fossil of a modern-style bird from that period--the first was a waterfowl. Because both kinds of birds are relatively high up the evolutionary chain, they would have to have emerged earlier, around 90 million to 100 million years ago.

adapted from an item appearing in the New York Times