Researchers have discovered Australia's oldest eagle fossil

CANBERRA, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Flinders University in Australia issued a communiqué on the 28th that the 25 million-year-old eagle skeleton fossil discovered by researchers at the university a few years ago is considered to be the oldest eagle fossil in Australia.

Paleontologists at the university found the fossil in 2016 on a ranch in South Australia, consisting of 63 bones. This species, which lived in the late Oligocene, is one of the oldest eagle birds of prey in the world.

The researchers found that fossilized bones showed that the eagle's wings were shorter than its size, while its legs were longer. As a result, it does not seem to fly very fast, but it is very agile, good at ambushing prey, preying on birds and mammals such as koalas and possums.

The results of this study have been published in the American journal Historical Biology. First author Ellen Mather said that the species showed some characteristics that existing hawks did not have, so it did not belong to the extant genus or family, and appeared to be a separate branch of the hawk family.

According to Mather, the species was slightly smaller than the surviving wedge-tailed eagle in Australia, but was the largest eagle in mainland Australia at the time. Its foot span is nearly 15 centimeters, which allows it to catch large prey. The largest marsupial predators of the time were similar in size to today's puppies or big cats, so this eagle was certainly the ruler.

Trevor Worthy, an associate professor at Flinders University, co-author of the report, said the eagle is at the top of the food chain, with few numbers and less common fossils preserved. "It's hard to find a fossil skeleton of an eagle, and it's exciting to get most of the skeleton, especially if it's so old."

Source: Xinhua News Agency