Scientists have discovered the oldest fossil of a sand chicken in Asia

BEIJING, April 5 (Xinhua Sun Self-Law) reporter 5 from China
Institute of Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (
Paleontology Institute) was informed that the team of scientists in the Linxia Basin in the late Neolithic formation found a piece of about 6 The sand chicken fossils, which are between 1 million and 9 million years old, are the oldest, most intact and associated skeletons known in Asia, providing key evidence for understanding the evolution of sand chickens in China today, especially in Tibet, the unique highland ecosystems and endemic species of Qinghai-Tibet.
This important discovery and research in the field of paleontology was made by researchers
Paleontology, Researchers Li Zhiheng, Thomas Stidham, Deng Tao, Zhou Zhong and Co-author, and the research paper has recently been published online in the international academic journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. The researchers named the newly discovered fossil of a sand chicken arid summer bird, meaning "a bird from the summer area and living in arid conditions."
Scientists say that sand chickens, which are commonly known as sand chickens and birds, include 16 current species, and although their names sound closely related to chickens, they are in fact sister groups to pigeons, living in the driest and driest regions of Europe, Asia and Africa (concentrated in the mid- and low-latitude arid belts of the northern hemisphere). These mainly seed-fed birds have a unique ability to adapt to life in arid areas, where male sand chickens can collect water from feathers on their chests and abdomens and fly back to nests more than 10 kilometers away to feed thirsty chicks.
the period of survival of arid summer birds was about 6 million to 9 million years old, when the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau continued to rise rapidly, the monsoon climate strengthened, and the climate in the interior of Central Asia continued to move towards drought. The fossils of the arid lin-summer birds were found at an altitude of more than 2,000 meters, which is clearly far higher than all kinds of sand chickens except the Tibetan hairy-legged sand chickens that still live in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Given the excellent adaptation of the current sand chicken to the arid environment, the researchers speculate that the arid summer birds may have adapted quickly to the northeast edge of the arid and mountain-capped Qinghai-Tibet Plateau millions of years ago.
it is worth mentioning that despite the high altitude and arid climate of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, other fossils in the region show that the ecosystems of the Mesothemum were very diverse at that time. "If you walk on the edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau six or seven million years ago, it might look like a documentary about the wildlife of Africa's savannahs, and on the horizon, the sight of hyenas, elephants, rhinos, pigs, antelopes, horses, ostrich, vultures, falcons and other familiar animals can be seen everywhere, including, of course, the birds of summer," the researchers said. The discovery of the arid summer bird also fills a gap in the fossil record for nearly 20 million years, a long time interval that may have been the main stage in the evolution and diffusion of all members of the current sand chicken, according to a team of
scientists.