BIRDS’ evolutionary tree has just been shaken to its roots by the discovery of surprising relationships that may force ornithologists to re-evaluate much of what they thought they knew about avian evolution.
The evolutionary history of birds has always been something of a mystery, because most modern orders arose in a sudden burst of speciation some time between 100 and 65 million years ago, leaving precious few intermediate forms to help biologists work out where the orders came from and how they are related. “It’s one of the last big mysteries of birds – trying to figure out how these…
