Ichthyornis Birds Can Survive Asteroid Attacks That Extinct Dinosaurs, Here’s Why

Bird bones are so fragile that scientists hardly ever see a bird’s brain that is still intact and is in the braincase inside the skull. But a few years ago, researchers found a 3D fossil Ichthyornis, an ancient toothed bird that lived during the Cretaceous period, which is well preserved in rock formations dating from 82 million to 87 million years ago in Kansas.

“It’s an almost complete skull and is extremely rare for both the species (Ichthyornis) and bird fossils in general,” said Torres, who conducted the research as a doctoral student in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Texas, at Austin. “This new fossil appears to be preserved in most of the bones that make up the skull, giving us a complete look at the fossil.” he added.

Torres and his fellow researchers used X-ray computed tomography (CT) scans to digitally reconstruct Ichthyornis’ facial skeleton and brain structures. The results of brain shape analysis revealed that ancient birds like Ichthyornis had “ancient” brains, because their brains were more like those of dinosaurs than those of living birds. According to Torres, the forebrains of birds living today are larger than those of ancient birds and dinosaurs that lived before the mass extinction.

This large forebrain is thought to have been a gift from their ancestors that helped them survive catastrophic global climate change, which may have occurred during the mass extinction, thus helping to explain why only Ichthyornis birds survived the asteroid strike. Brain structure analysis showed that the bird brain did not evolve in a neat development over time, but developed as a complex mosaic of brain structures.

Author: Vania Dinda Marella

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