03/01/2023
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36405-3
Our new paper brilliantly led by Dr. Alicia Grealy on Madagascar's elephant birds is now out!
Madagascar’s extinct elephant birds have captured public intrigue for hundreds of years because so little is known about them due to large gaps in the skeletal fossil record. Using ancient molecules extracted from their 1000-year old fossil eggshells, which are very abundant on Malagasy beaches, we reveal surprising new insights into the biology of these flightless giants: how many species were there? Where did they live? What did they eat? Answers to these questions contribute to our understanding of evolution and extinction at large.
With the help and support of community members in Madagascar, our team collected hundreds of eggshell from across the country and looked at their thickness, their micro-structure, their DNA and proteins, and their stable isotopes. DNA preserved in the eggshell showed there are fewer species in southern Madagascar than previously described. In the past, male and female elephant birds may have been mistaken for different species due to large differences in their size. However, eggshell from the far north of Madagascar, where no skeletons have been found, revealed the existence of a previously undescribed lineage of elephant bird, closely related to those from the central highlands. Elephant birds in southern and northern Madagascar ate mostly shrubs and some succulents, while elephant birds in the central highlands ate more grasses.
This research shows how much can be learned about the biology of extinct birds from studying fossil eggshell. Through interdisciplinary research it is amazing to see how we can reconstruct past life on this planet and understand implications for biodiversity moving forward!
