The bony tongue of the newly-identified enantiornithine bird species, Brevirostruavis macrohyoideus, was nearly as long as its head. Brevirostruavis macrohyoideus lived alongside dinosaurs in what is now northeastern China some 120 million years ago (Early Cretaceous period). The bird had a relatively short beak, small peg-shaped teeth, and an extremely elongate bony hyoid apparatus (tongue bones). “This extinct short-beaked, big-tongued bird is the earliest example of a bird being able to stick its tongue out.” the paleontologists said. Novel evolution of a hyper-elongated tongue in a Cretaceous enantiornithine from China and the evolution of the hyolingual apparatus and feeding in birds.

Source: Ethiopian News December 14, 2021 23:45 UTC