Two new scientific papers by researchers from Brazil, based on fossil finds in Antarctica, provide a better understanding of life on the continent more than 66 million years ago.

The study examined the remains of bird bones and leaves on two Antarctic islands that belong to the Cretaceous period (between 145 and 66 million years ago). This is reported by
Toda Palavra, a partner of TV BRICS.

The researchers were able to find two fossilised fragments of bird bones. Analysing the anatomy of these bones revealed that they belonged to modern birds from the neornithes subclass, which expands our understanding of bird fossils dating back to the Cretaceous period and helps us study the early stages of evolution of modern birds and their survival during the mass extinction of dinosaurs.

In the second study, which also involved scientists from the National Museum, as well as researchers from the Federal Universities of Pernambuco (UFPE), Contestado University (UNC), Federal University of Espirito Santo and Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Antarctica, 15 plant fossils from the genus Notophagus were found, which contained traces of insect-plant interactions, mainly tunnels formed by small larvae inside leaves.

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