Ancient bird species fossil confirmed in Poland
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
14.05.2013 09:05
The discovery of a previously unknown species of ancient bird has been confirmed after the fossilized remains were discovered near Rzeszow, south eastern Poland.
Resoviaornis jamrozi: Z. Bochenski/ wikipedia
“The find is the crowning discovery of my life,” said amateur palaeontologist Albin Jamroz, in an interview with the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
The extraordinary find has been described in the new edition of long standing international quarterly The Journal of Ornithology.
Jamroz found the fossil in the banks of a small brook, and both he and the nearby city of Rzeszow have been commemorated in the species' Latin name, Resoviaornis jamrozi (The Rzeszow bird of Jamroz).
According to Dr Zbigniew Bochenski from the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), the bird lived about 29 million years ago, during the Oligocene Epoch.
“It was the size of today's blue tits,” he told PAP.
“The bird's beak indicates that it fed on fruit and insects,” he reflected.
“It had pretty long legs and probably spent most of the time on the ground or among branches, and not in the air,” he added.
The discovery of Resoviaornis jamrozi marks the fifth fossil of a bird fro the Oligocene Epoch to be discovered on Polish territory. (nh)