Extinction
Researchers from Australia and New Zealand have discovered fossils from 16 species, including a new ancestor of the kākāpō parrot, in a cave near Waitomo on the North Island. The remains, dating back about one million years, reveal waves of extinction driven by volcanic eruptions and climate shifts long before human arrival. The find fills a major gap in the country's fossil record.
Ti AI ṣe iroyin
Paleontologists have found the southernmost fossils of Purgatorius, the earliest known relative of primates including humans, in Colorado's Denver Basin. These tiny teeth, smaller than a fingertip, suggest the shrew-sized mammal spread southward soon after the dinosaur extinction 66 million years ago. The discovery fills a gap in the early geographic history of primate ancestors.