Birds set foot near South Pole in Early Cretaceous, Australian tracks show

Emory's Anthony Martin, left, at the site of the discovery with Melissa Lowery, a local volunteer fossil hunter who was the first to spot most of the tracks. (Photo by Ruth Schowalter)

The discovery of 27 avian footprints on the southern Australia coast — dating back to the Early Cretaceous when Australia was still connected to Antarctica — opens another window onto early avian evolution and possible migratory behavior. 

PLOS ONE published the discovery of some of the oldest, positively identified bird tracks in the Southern Hemisphere, dated to between 120 million and 128 million years ago. 

“Most of the bird tracks and body fossils dating as far back as the Early Cretaceous are from the Northern Hemisphere, particularly from Asia,” says Anthony Martin, first author of the study and a professor in Emory University’s Department of Environmental Sciences. “Our discovery shows that there were many birds, and a variety of them, near the South Pole about 125 million years ago.” 

Read the full story here. 

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