The oldest fossil of a modern bird yet found, dating back to the era of the dinosaurs, has been recovered by an international team of paleontologists. The close observation of the skull shows that it blends many features common to modern duck and chicken. The fossil was unearthed in a limestone mine near the Belgian-Dutch border. Using high-resolution X-ray CT scans, researchers scrutinized the rock and unveiled the fossil of a bird skull that is estimated to be 66.7-million-year-old. Researchers believe the fossil provides a rare glimpse of what modern birds were like during the initial stages of their evolutionary history.
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