Moore Foundation grantees at the University of Texas Austin and the University of Utah discovered the oldest known vocal organ of a bird in an Antarctic fossil of a relative of ducks and geese that lived more than 66 million years ago during the age of dinosaurs.
The discovery of the Mesozoic-era vocal organ—called a syrinx—and its apparent absence in nonavian dinosaur fossils of the same age indicate that the organ may have originated late in the evolution of birds and that other dinosaurs may not have been able to make noises similar to the bird calls we hear today, according to findings published in Nature on Oct 12. Birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs and are considered living dinosaurs by scientists.
"This finding helps explain why no such organ has been preserved in a nonbird dinosaur or crocodile relative," said lead author Julia Clarke, a paleontologist at The University of Texas at Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences. "This is another important step to figuring out what dinosaurs sounded like as well as giving us insight into the evolution of birds."
Read the full article here and coverage in the NY Times here.
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