Scientists have found 25 million-year-old fossils of ancient eagles: they use sneak attack tactics to ambush prey

According to CNET, scientists have found the remains of an ancient eagle near a deserted, dry lake in southern Australia. The eagle is thought to have used sneak attack tactics to ambush prey 25 million years ago, when the land was teeming with lush forests. The discovery includes as many as 63 well-preserved fossils, including almost the entire skeleton of an ancient eagle.

Trevor Worthy, a paleontologist at Flinders University in Australia and a co-author of the study on the discovery published Monday in the journal Historical Biology, called the excavation "meticulous."

Ellen Mather, lead author of the study and phD student in paleontology at Flinders University, said: "It is rare to find even a single bone from an eagle fossil. Being able to have most of the skeleton is quite exciting, especially considering how old it is. ”

Eagles are at the top of the food chain, with some hawks preying on squirrels, prairie dogs and rabbits, and using the sky as a safe haven for them. "They're always relatively small in number — so they're rarely preserved as fossils," Worthy said. "These rich fossils found near Australia's now-defunct Pipa Lake are not only a rare find, they are also among the oldest and most powerful birds of prey in the world.

"This species is slightly smaller and thinner than the wedge-tailed eagle, but it is the largest known eagle in Australia at this time," Mather said. The wedge-tailed eagle is the largest of australia's only three species of birds of prey, similar in size to the American vulture.

This prehistoric animal, known as Archaehierax sylvestris, is unlike any eagle we know of, with a relatively short wingspan. But it takes that feature to the extreme.

Researchers say that long ago, it was able to skillfully dodge trees and branches when tracking its victims, and it is thought to attack animals with ambushes and huge claws. In tall trees, the researchers said, the feathered hunter attacked koalas, possums and other vulnerable animals.

Mather said: "The largest marsupial predators at the time were about the size of small dogs or big cats, so Archaehierax was definitely the ruler. It was one of the top terrestrial predators of the Late Oligocene, attacking the birds and mammals of the time. ”