Hey everyone,

guess what? another fossil bird has been found! more below ...

hope all is well in lovely seattle,

Devorah A. N. Bennu, PhD
Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow
Molecular Systematics Laboratories
Department of Ornithology
The American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at West 79th Street
New York, NY 10024-5192
212.313.7784 (office) 212.313.6962 or 212.313.7773 (lab)
email:nyneve at amnh.org or nyneve at myUW.net
work page http://research.amnh.org/ornithology/personnel/bennu.htm
personal pages http://research.amnh.org/users/nyneve/

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70 Million - Year - Old Bird Fossil Found
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/science/AP-Romania-Prehistoric-Bird.html

Filed at 12:31 p.m. ET

CLUJ, Romania (AP) -- Scientists have unearthed the skeleton of a
prehistoric bird and the remains of its eggs dating back more than 70
million years, in western Romania, a paleontologist said Tuesday.

Professor Vlad Codrea, who is considered to be Romania's top paleontologist,
said the enantiornithine is the country's oldest bird fossil. The size of a
blackbird, it is believed to be between 70 and 72 million years old, he
said.

``The discovery is extremely important,'' Codrea said. ``Due to the
fragility of the bird skeleton and especially the fragility of the eggs,
discoveries like these are very rare.''

He said the discovery was made recently near the city of Hateg, about 220
miles northwest of the capital.

It was the third major discovery for Codrea, who is a professor at the
University of Babes-Bolyai in Cluj.

Last year in Transylvania, he unearthed two fossils of rhabdodon
robustus -- small dinosaurs with birdlike feet.

Three years ago, he found an ancient relative of the crocodile and eight
nests of petrified dinosaur eggs. French and Belgian science and history
museums helped finance his research.


Copyright 2004 The Associated Press
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