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last mo.

Rare Fossil Points to Flight in Ancestors of Ostriches and Emus

Genetic timelines place their divergence after Gondwana’s breakup, suggesting ocean-crossing dispersal.

The fearsome Australian cassowary, which cannot fly but is sometimes called "the world's most dangerous bird"
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Ostriches may be ground-bound, but their ancestors could take flight, a new study says
Australian emus are a member of the flightless palaeognath family

Overview

  • Peer-reviewed research in Biology Letters, led by Smithsonian zoologist Klara Widrig, analyzes an early palaeognath fossil to reassess the group’s origins.
  • High-resolution scans of a well-preserved Lithornis promiscuus breastbone from Wyoming show flight-muscle architecture consistent with powered flight or flap-gliding.
  • Geometric comparisons link the sternum shape to living long-range fliers such as herons and egrets, indicating capacity for lengthy flights across water.
  • The findings offer a dispersal-based explanation for palaeognaths’ spread across Africa, Australia, New Zealand and South America, countering simple continental-drift accounts.
  • The authors propose that flightlessness evolved later after the end-Cretaceous extinction as predators waned and ground feeding expanded, a scenario that remains subject to further testing.