New "bird" Press release

["D.I.G." <dinosaur@interport.net>]

US scientists claim proof birds descended from dinosaurs
    
    WASHINGTON, March 18 (AFP) - US paleontologists have discovered  a
fossil in Madagascar proving that the first birds descended  directly
from
clawed, meat-eating dinosaurs, the weekly Science says  in its
forthcoming
issue.
    Research team leader Catherine Forster, of the State University  of
New
York at Stony Brook, said the 65-to-70 million-year-old  fossil has
long,
feather-bearing bones extending from the forelimbs,  a clear indication
the
animal was able to fly.
    But unlike most birds, "Rahona," as the find has been named in
Madagascan -- meaning "menace from the clouds"-- has a long, bony  tail
and
a sickle-shaped claw at the end of its second toe.
    The researchers said this rare claw is identical to one featured  by
a
family of predator dinosaurs known as therapods, which many  experts
believe directly preceded the first bird, or archaeopteryx.
    "This discovery lends a lot of weight to the idea that birds are  a
side branch of the theropod family tree," said Forster.
    "This new fossil is one of the strongest last nails in the  coffin
of
those who doubt that dinosaurs had anything to do with the  origin of
birds," she added.
    Paleontologists have long been divided on the idea that birds
descended from dinosaurs.
    The discovery in Germany last century of two  150-million-year-old
fossilized archaeopteryx, believed to be the  first winged reptile, gave
rise to the theory linking the geneology  of birds and dinosaurs. 
    Over the years, however, scientists noted several significant 
skeletal
differences between the two creatures, throwing the theory  into serious
doubt.
    pa/fgf/ma
    


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