Carolyn Bohle, age 9, of Glendale, MO., for her question:
How old are the oldest bird fossils?
Every one of our feathery birds can trace back his family tree to 60 million years ago. Fossils from all parts of the world show that the birds of those far off days Were just like the birds of today. However, there were more varieties, for many types of birds have perished f rom the earth.
When the experts talk about the earliest birds they tend to choose their words with care. Everyone agrees that the ancestors of our modern birds flocked over the world some 60 million years ago. But most peop1e take it for granted that any animal is a bird if he has feathers, a toothless beak and wings instead of arms. If this is so, then there Were true birds more than 100 million years ago, and We have found the fossil remains of their fragile bones to prove it.
A million is a big number for a young mind to grasp. If you gave up all your playtime, chores and school work, you just might be able to count this high in about four months. If you were Set on counting to 100 million, the dreary task would take you 40 years. And to count back the years to when the first feathered flyer took to the air might take at least 80 years of your life.
There are many fossils of feathered flyers that lived 150 million years ago. They shared the world with the dinosaurs. The experts tell us that, like the dinosaurs, they were reptiles. Some people call them flying reptiles rather than true birds. But reptiles are cold blooded, four footed and scaly. The early flyers had wings instead of arms and feathers instead of scales. Many experts think that their fossil remains suggest that they were warm blooded animals.
Whether they were flying reptiles or true birds does not seem to matter at this late date. \We know absolutely that they were cousins of the dinosaur reptiles. There were sparrow sized fellows and whoppers with wings that spread 20 feet wide. All of them had long, pointed snouts filled with sharp teeth, and their fossil remains have been found in almost every country in the world. Some Of their children Were perhaps the ancestors of the modern birds that arrived on earth some 60 million years ago.
The oldest bird fossils date back to the days of the dinosaurs. But one of the most amazing bird fossils dates back only 1 million years. It is the remains of the elephant bird, who once lived on the Island of Madagascar. He was too big to fly, for he stood 9 feet tall and may have Weighed a half ton. If his monster eggs were hollow, 12 dozen ordinary chicken eggs could have been stuffed inside it.