Known as Vegavis iaai, the bird thrived in late-Cretaceous Antarctica, then a tropical paradise. About a million years before the asteroid that wiped out 75% of life on Earth, it went extinct.

Long before Antarctica became the frozen desert we know it as today, it was the temperate, forested home of one of Earth’s earliest modern bird species: Vegavis iaai. V. iaai thrived in ...

A recent study found a nearly complete skull in Antarctica that may belong to an ancient ancestor of ducks and geese called Vegavis iaai. This species lived around 68 million years ago ...

A recently analyzed near-complete fossil skull found in Antarctica has revealed Vegavis iaai to be the oldest known modern bird, according to a study published in Nature. 66 million years ago ...

An artist’s interpretation of Vegavis iaai diving for fish in the shallow ocean off the coast of the Antarctic peninsula, with ammonites and plesiosaurs for company. Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert!

The Late Cretaceous modern (crown) bird,Vegavis iaai, pursuit diving for fish in the shallow ocean off the coast of the Antarctic peninsula, with ammonites and plesiosaurs forcompany. Disclaimer ...