Re: juvenile bird fossil ref?

[Mark Witton <Mark.Witton@port.ac.uk>]

David Peters wrote:

"Are juvenile Mesozoic birds often or rarely found as fossils?"

There's also this:

Sanz, J. L., Chiappe, L. M., Fernández-Jalvo, Y., Ortega, F., Sánchez-Chillón, 
B., Poyato-Ariza, F. J., Pérez-Moreno, B. P. 2001. An Early Cretaceous pellet. 
Nature, 409, 998-999.

... which desribes a regurgitated pellet containing four juvenile bird 
skeletons. That they apparently represent three distinct three species suggests 
that whatever animal produced the pellet (suggested to be a theropod or 
pterosaur) was a serial chick murderer. It also prooves that a varied diet has 
always been the way to go, even in the Mesozoic. 

Mark


--
 
Mark Witton
 
Palaeobiology Research Group
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Portsmouth
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E-mail: Mark.Witton@port.ac.uk