Archaeologists Find 3,300-Year-Old Claw Of A Bird That Went Extinct 700 Years Ago ...

[left-of-center2012]

Archaeologists Find 3,300-Year-Old Claw Of A Bird That Went Extinct 700 Years Ago,
And People Say 2020 Is Not The Right Year To Clone It

Three decades ago, a team of archaeologists were exploring a cave system on Mount Owen in New Zealand when they came across a breathtaking find. The thing they discovered was a perfectly preserved dinosaur-like claw that still had flesh and muscles attached to it.

Later it turned out that this mysterious leg was 3,300-year-old and it belonged to an extinct bird called moa which disappeared from the Earth approximately 700 to 800 years ago. These now-extinct birds were flightless and lived in New Zealand For a long time, scientists have been trying to find an answer to the question, why these birds went extinct. Here’s a thing—moa disappeared from our Earth around 700 years ago, shortly after humans arrived on the islands. Some scientists believe that it wasn’t a coincidence.

Turns out, moa first appeared around 8.5 million years ago! Apparently, back in the day, there were at least 10 species of moa. The two largest species reached about 12 feet (3.6 m) in height with neck outstretched and weighed about 510 lb (230 kg) while the smallest was around the size of a turkey.











https://www.boredpanda.com/bird-claw-archaeology-moa-new-zealand/?cexp_id=31041&cexp_var=24&_f=featured&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Newsletter

[MoonchildCA]

1. Amazing that it is so well preserved!

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Three decades ago ?!? And we're just now learning about it ??

I always thought reviving giant birds would be more interesting than reviving mammoths. And even unbroken eggs turn up from time to time. Moas and elephant birds both went extinct relatively recently, because of human predation and habitat loss.