Ancient Jamaican bird used wings to go clubbing
An extinct flightless bird from Jamaica fought rivals and predators using wings evolved into clubs, scientists suggest.
The boney bludgeons carried by Xenicibis xympithecus are unlike anything else known in the bird world - or in mammals, reptiles or amphibians.
Writing in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B, the scientists report finding bones that had apparently been broken by another bird's club.
The species may have survived until less than 10,000 years ago.
A member of the ibis family, it was probably about the size of a chicken, but with an infinitely more robust armoury....
Read entire article at BBC
The boney bludgeons carried by Xenicibis xympithecus are unlike anything else known in the bird world - or in mammals, reptiles or amphibians.
Writing in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B, the scientists report finding bones that had apparently been broken by another bird's club.
The species may have survived until less than 10,000 years ago.
A member of the ibis family, it was probably about the size of a chicken, but with an infinitely more robust armoury....