Giant prehistoric geese the size of small aircraft once flew over Britain...

Was it the ancestor of Ryanair...!!!???

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/mai...cigoose126.xml

Giant prehistoric geese the size of small plane

By Richard Alleyne
Last Updated: 7:01pm BST 26/09/2008

Giant prehistoric geese the size of small aircraft once flew over Britain,
scientists have discovered

Dasornis, which had a 16 ft wingspan and sharp teeth, lived 50 million years
ago and was related to present-day ducks and geese.


Dasornis are related to modern day ducks and geese
Once it skimmed the waters which covered what is now London, Essex and Kent,
snapping up fish and squid with its bony-toothed beak.

Scientists announced the discovery of one of the best preserved Dasornis
fossil skulls buried in clay on the Isle of Sheppey.

Dasornis was in many ways similar to the modern albatross, which has the
largest wingspan of any living bird, but research has shown that its closest
cousins are ducks and geese.

Dr Gerald Mayr, from the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt,
Germany, who described the find today in the journal Palaeontology, said:
"Imagine a bird like an ocean-going goose, almost the size of a small plane.

advertisement"By today's standards these were pretty bizarre animals, but
perhaps the strangest thing about them is that they had sharp, tooth-like
projections along the cutting edges of the beak.

"No living birds have true teeth - which are made of enamel and dentine -
because their distant ancestors did away with them more than 100 million
years ago, probably to save weight and make flying easier.

"But the bony-toothed birds, like Dasornis, are unique among birds in that
they reinvented tooth-like structures by evolving these bony spikes.

"These birds probably skimmed across the surface of the sea, snapping up
fish and squid on the wing.

"With only an ordinary beak these would have been difficult to keep hold of,
and the pseudo-teeth evolved to prevent meals slipping away."

The fossil is in a collection at the Karlsruhe Natural History Museum,
Germany..."

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"Gregory Morrow" a écrit dans le message de
...
Was it the ancestor of Ryanair...!!!???

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/mai...cigoose126.xml

Giant prehistoric geese the size of small plane

By Richard Alleyne
Last Updated: 7:01pm BST 26/09/2008

Giant prehistoric geese the size of small aircraft once flew over Britain,
scientists have discovered

Dasornis, which had a 16 ft wingspan and sharp teeth, lived 50 million
years
ago and was related to present-day ducks and geese.


Dasornis are related to modern day ducks and geese
Once it skimmed the waters which covered what is now London, Essex and
Kent,
snapping up fish and squid with its bony-toothed beak.

Scientists announced the discovery of one of the best preserved Dasornis
fossil skulls buried in clay on the Isle of Sheppey.

Dasornis was in many ways similar to the modern albatross, which has the
largest wingspan of any living bird, but research has shown that its
closest
cousins are ducks and geese.

Dr Gerald Mayr, from the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt,
Germany, who described the find today in the journal Palaeontology, said:
"Imagine a bird like an ocean-going goose, almost the size of a small
plane.

advertisement"By today's standards these were pretty bizarre animals, but
perhaps the strangest thing about them is that they had sharp, tooth-like
projections along the cutting edges of the beak.

"No living birds have true teeth - which are made of enamel and dentine -
because their distant ancestors did away with them more than 100 million
years ago, probably to save weight and make flying easier.

"But the bony-toothed birds, like Dasornis, are unique among birds in that
they reinvented tooth-like structures by evolving these bony spikes.

"These birds probably skimmed across the surface of the sea, snapping up
fish and squid on the wing.

"With only an ordinary beak these would have been difficult to keep hold
of,
and the pseudo-teeth evolved to prevent meals slipping away."

The fossil is in a collection at the Karlsruhe Natural History Museum,
Germany..."

/