'Oldest' parrot fossil

An Irish funded researcher claims to have set a new record for the oldest known parrot fossil, and at the same time helped to rewrite natural history.

The 55-million-year-old bone was dug from a Danish quarry and proves the colourful birds lived on the edges of the North Sea - much further from the tropics than previously thought.

It is officially known as Mopsitta tanta, but researcher Dr David Waterhouse has nicknamed it the Danish Blue after the iconic Monty Python comedy sketch featuring a dead Norwegian parrot.

Share this article

Send this article to a friend »

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Reddit
• Facebook
• StumbleUpon

What are these?