00:00ancient antarctic bird fossil reveals modern bird origins before dinosaur extinction
00:06a 69 million year old bird skull emerged from antarctic rock on vega island ancient antarctica
00:14held shallow seas forested land and diving birds while dinosaurs still walked elsewhere on earth
00:20the fossil belonged to vagavis ai ai an extinct bird with a long pointed beak and a skull shaped
00:27like modern birds scientists collected the nearly complete skull during a 2011 antarctic expedition
00:34then studied its hidden structure with modern imaging the skull showed brain case features
00:40that helped researchers place vagavas near the bird group that includes ducks and geese unlike many
00:47older bird fossils vagavis lacked teeth making it look closer to living birds than many dinosaur era
00:52flyers researchers think vagavis dove through cold southern water using its pointed beak to chase
00:59fish and small prey the discovery matters because vagavis lived before the asteroid impact that ended
01:05the age of non-avian dinosaurs that timing suggests some modern bird relatives already lived in antarctica
01:13before global disaster changed the planet ancient antarctica was not today's frozen desert warmer
01:20forests coasts and marine waters gave birds space to survive the fossil now turns one icy island into a key
01:27place for understanding how modern birds began when a tiny skull comes out of antarctic stone the story
01:34of every backyard bird reaches deeper into time
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