Ancient fossil discovered in Canterbury
Morning Report
English - September 03, 2023 20:43 - 3 minutes - 3.54 MB - ★★★★ - 11 ratingsNews Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Previous Episode: Tech experts call for parties to announce AI strategy
Next Episode: NZ bowler Tayla Bruce wins world title
The discovery of an ancient fossil in Canterbury is suggesting a group of sea birds originated much closer to home than previously thought.
Dubbed the Zealandian Tropicbird, it's one of the first fossils of its kind to be found in the Southern Hemisphere - up until now all others had been from the Northern Hemisphere.
Canterbury Museum senior curator natural history Paul Scofield, who co-authored the paper on the research, believes it's around 62 million years old.
Scofield spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.