The only nearly completely intact Genyornis eggshell ever discovered. The existence of four puncture injuries on the egg suggests that it was preceded by a scavenging marsupial.
Scientists identify ancient birds behind prehistoric huge eggs
A years-long clinical debate in Australia about what animal is the real mother of massive prehistoric eggs has been settled. In a recent study, researchers from the University of Copenhagen and their international counterparts revealed that the eggs might just be the last of an unusual line of megafauna known as the “Demon Ducks of Doom.”
Think about living next to a 200 kg, 2 meters high bird with a huge beak. This was the scenario for the very first individuals who settled in Australia some 65,000 years back.
Genyornis newtoni, the last members of the “Demon Ducks of Doom,” coexisted there with our forefathers as a species of a now-extinct household of duck-like birds.
Illustration of Genyornis newtoni being hunted by a giant lizard in Australia about 50,000 years back. Credit: Illustration supplied by the artist Peter Trusler.
According to a current study by experts from the University of Copenhagen and a global team of associates, the flightless bird lay eggs the size of cantaloupe melons, presumably to the delight of ancient human beings who probably gathered and consumed them as a vital protein source. The research study was just released in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Given that professionals at first discovered the 50,000-year-old eggshell pieces 40 years ago, the substantial eggs have actually been the subject of debate. It wasnt understood up until just recently if the eggs really belonged to the household of “demon-ducks,” likewise called dromornithids.
Because 1981, the identity of the bird that lay the eggs has given controversy for scientists all around the world. While some proposed Genyornis newtoni, others believed the shells were from Progura birds, an extinct member of the megapode group of species. Progura were “chicken-like birds” that only weighed between 5 and 7 kilos and had huge feet.
The eggshells are too little, according to supporters of the Progura bird, for a bird the size of Genyornis newtoni to lay them.
” However, our analysis of protein series from the eggs clearly reveals that the eggshells can not originate from megapodes and the Progura bird,” discusses Josefin Stiller, an assistant professor at the University of Copenhagens Department of Biology and one of the researchers behind the brand-new research study.
” They can only be of the Genyornis. As such, we have actually laid to rest a really long and heated dispute about the origin of these eggs,” adds co-author and University of Copenhagen professor Matthew Collins, whose area of research study is evolutionary genes.
To the right is an emu-egg and to the left is the egg, which the researchers think originates from the Demon Duck of Doom, Genyornis newtoni. The latter egg weighs about 1.5 kgs which is more than 20 times the weight of an average chicken egg. Credit: Trevor Worthy
Protein analysis and a gene database identified the mom
In sand dunes in the southern Australian towns of Wallaroo and Woodpoint, the researchers examined the proteins from eggshells.
The proteins were broken down into little pieces by bleach before the researchers put together the pieces in the appropriate sequence and utilized expert system to study their structure. The protein series offered them a collection of gene “codes” that they might compare to the genes of more than 350 types of presently existing bird species.
A big thigh from Genyornis newtoni (left) and on your right a rather smaller thigh from an emu. Credit: Trevor Worthy
” We utilized our information from the B10K job, which currently contains genomes for all significant bird lineages, to reconstruct which bird group the extinct bird most likely belonged to. It ended up being quite clear that the eggs were not laid by a megapode, and did for that reason not belong to the Progura,” discusses Josefin Stiller.
Thereby, the scientists have resolved the secret about the origin of the ancient Aussie eggs and have given us brand-new knowledge on evolution.
” We are enjoyed have actually performed an interdisciplinary research study in which we used protein series analysis to clarify animal advancement,” concludes Matthew Collins.
The eggs were taken in by the first humans in Australia
Previous research on the egg shards shows that the shells were cooked and after that discarded in fire pits. Charring on eggshell surfaces is confirmation of this, proving that the earliest Australian individuals devoured the eggs about 65,000 years earlier.
Eggshell pieces from an ancient nest in South Australia. The mass of eggshell gathered within one meter squared is comparable to around 12 entire eggs. Credit: Gifford H. Miller
Australias first inhabitants most likely collected eggs from nests, which the hypothesis states, might have resulted in the termination of the Genyornis bird 47,000 years ago.
For more on this research, see First Australian People Ate Giant Eggs of Huge Flightless Birds.
Recommendation: “Ancient proteins solve controversy over the identity of Genyornis eggshell” by Beatrice Demarchi, Josefin Stiller, Alicia Grealy, Meaghan Mackie, Yuan Deng, Tom Gilbert, Julia Clarke, Lucas J. Legendre, Rosa Boano, Thomas Sicheritz-Pontén, John Magee, Guojie Zhang, Michael Bunce, Matthew James Collins and Gifford Miller, 24 May 2022, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.DOI: 10.1073/ pnas.2109326119.
The existence of four leak injuries on the egg suggests that it was preceded by a scavenging marsupial. Since 1981, the identity of the bird that lay the eggs has actually been a source of debate for scientists all throughout the globe. To the right is an emu-egg and to the left is the egg, which the scientists believe stems from the Demon Duck of Doom, Genyornis newtoni. The latter egg weighs about 1.5 kgs which is more than 20 times the weight of a typical chicken egg. The mass of eggshell gathered within one meter squared is equivalent to around 12 entire eggs.