The amazing discovery of Ouwenshan claw

About 30 years ago, during the holloway era in April, a team of archaeologists came across a terrible and unusual object while exploring a large cave system in Owenshan, New Zealand.

Almost invisible in the dark cave, they wonder if their eyes are deceiving them, because they can't think of a huge dinosaur-like paw in front of them, and its meat and scaly skin are still intact.

This paw is well preserved and seems to have been left by something that died recently.

The archaeological team eagerly retrieved and analyzed it.

The result is shocking. The mysterious claw was found to be the remains of a mummy 3,300 years ago, a large prehistoric bird that disappeared hundreds of years ago. The highland fear bird is endemic to New Zealand.

DNA analysis published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that the first fear bird appeared about 654.38+85 million years ago, and there were at least ten species, but they were wiped out from the "fastest existing and human-induced extinction of giant animals".

Because the height of some subspecies of moa is over 10 feet (3 meters), moa was once the largest bird on the earth.

However, the plateau Moya is one of the smallest species of Moya, and its height is no more than 4.2 feet (1.3 meters). It is covered with feathers and has no wings and tail except its beak and sole.

As the name implies, the highland Moya people live in a higher and cooler place in this country, left: Moya illustration.

Right: The well-preserved Wikimedia Commons was first discovered in 1839, when John W, a linen dealer and natural history lover, was involved.

A member of an indigenous Maori tribe gave Harris an unusual bone fossil. He said he found it on the river bank.

These bones were sent to Sir richard owen, who was working at the Huntelia Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons in London.

Owen was puzzled about this bone for four years because it didn't match any other bones he met.

Finally, Owen came to the conclusion that this bone belongs to a completely unknown giant bird.

The scientific community laughed at Owen's theory, but he was later proved to be correct, because he found a large number of bone specimens and completely reconstructed the dinosaur bones.

Sir richard owen stood beside Moab's skeleton, holding the first bone fragment ever belonging to Moab.

Since the first discovery of Mayan bones, thousands more have been found, as well as some striking mummy remains, such as the claw of Owens Mountain, which looks scary.

Some of these samples still show soft tissues of muscles, skin and even feathers.

Most fossils are found in sand dunes, swamps and caves. Birds may nest in these places or avoid bad weather. When they die in natural dry places (for example, caves that are constantly blown by dry breeze), they will be preserved by drying.

This was shared by the mummy head of a highland moa (Wikimedia * * *). /kloc-When Polynesians immigrated to New Zealand for the first time in the middle of 0/3rd century, the population of Moya people was exploding.

For thousands of years, they have been the main herbivores in forests, shrubs and subalpine ecosystems in New Zealand, and there is only one carnivore-Hester Eagle.

However, when the first humans arrived in New Zealand, the Mayans were on the verge of extinction due to overfishing and habitat destruction.

London Museum of Natural History wrote: "When they mature so slowly, [they] will not be able to reproduce quickly to maintain the population, which makes them easily extinct." "When Europeans arrived in New Zealand in 65438+607, all the moas were extinct.

The Hasted eagle, which lived on the fear of birds, soon became extinct.

The giant Hasted Eagle attacked moa (Wikimedia Association) in New Zealand. Moa is usually considered as a candidate for GH clone recovery, because there are many well-preserved remains from which DNA can be extracted.

In addition, because it was extinct only a few centuries ago, many plants that constitute the food source of moa still exist.

Japanese geneticist Ankoh Yasuyuki Shirota completed the preliminary work of these works by extracting DNA from MOA residues, and he plans to introduce it into chicken embryos.

In the middle of this year, people's interest in the revival of this ancient bird was further supported when Trevor Mallard, a New Zealand Congressman, put forward that it was a feasible idea to restore the fear of birds in the next 50 years.

Thematic picture: Well-preserved Museum of Natural History of Terror Birds.

(* * * open * * resources), the article "The Terrible Discovery of Owen Mountain Claws" was first published in The Times, and has been allowed to reprint.

April holloway is a co-owner, editor and writer.

For privacy reasons, she once wrote The Origin of Ancient Times under the pseudonym April Holloway, but now she chooses to use her real name Joanna Gillan.

Joanna. Read Mor.