Dead Birds Hold Clues to Ancient Earth
L O N D O N, Feb. 8 -- British and Spanish scientistshave sequenced the DNA from extinct birds in a feat that mayshed new light on the break-up of an ancient super-continent.
Alan Cooper of the University of Oxford and a team ofresearchers have mapped short pieces of DNA from cells of twomoas, large flightless birds from New Zealand, and an extinctelephant bird from Madagascar.
"We have determined the first complete mitochondrial genomeof any extinct taxa [group]," Cooper said in a study reported inthe science journal Nature.
Tracing the Break-Up of a Super-Continent
The researchers used DNA from the mitochondria, thepowerhouse of cells, taken from fossilized bones and compared itwith similar sequences from the ostrich, rhea and chicken todetermine how flightless birds, or ratites, evolved.
Their research showed that the moa and kiwi evolved fromdifferent migrations of ratites to New Zealand.
The scientists also believe the bird lineage offers cluesabout the break-up of the ancient continent of Gondwanalandwhich separated into Africa, Australia, New Zealand, SouthAmerica and Antarctica.
By calculating how and when the birds evolved, Cooper andhis team believe they can support theories that land bridgesexisted between Australia and Antarctica and Indo-Madagascar.
"Such a land link may have allowed both the elephant-birdand ostrich to enter Indo-Madagascar, with the ostricheventually arriving in Eurasia via the northerly movement ofIndia," Cooper explained.
The theory could also help to explain the dispersal of otherland-based species between South America/ Antarctica andEurasia/Africa.
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