4 Sep 2023

Ancient fossil discovered in Canterbury

From Morning Report, 8:43 am on 4 September 2023

The discovery of an ancient fossil in Canterbury is suggesting a group of sea birds originated much closer to home than previously thought.

Dubbed the Zealandian Tropicbird, it's one of the first fossils of its kind to be found in the Southern Hemisphere - up until now all others had been from the Northern Hemisphere.

Canterbury Museum senior curator natural history Paul Scofield, who co-authored the paper on the research, believes it's around 62 million years old.

Scofield spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.