At less than nine centimetres long, the delicate skull of the bird scientists have dubbed Falcatakely forsterae might be easily overlooked. It turns out that its tall, scythe-like beak, while resembling the toucan, is something never before seen in the fossil record. "These features give the skull of Falcatakely an almost comical profile -- imagine a creature resembling a tiny, buck-toothed toucan," Field wrote. None of the approximately 200 bird species known from the period "has a skull resembling anything like Falcatakely," he added. For O'Connor, the discovery is evidence of the potentially enormous gaps that remain in our knowledge of the birds that lived alongside dinosaurs.

Source: Dhaka Tribune November 26, 2020 05:48 UTC