Paleontology: Rotten bones plagued by thunderbirds
Until nearly 50,000 years ago, a huge bird roamed Australia: the Thunderbird Juniors Newtonian, sometimes called the huge goose, weighed up to 230 kilograms and had a height of more than two meters, and therefore it is much larger than the mass of ants today. But then the animals died out, like many other representatives of the Australian megafauna, probably due to a combination of poaching and climate change. but at least with Juniors Newtonian Illness could have contributed in the end. This refers to the discovery of bones from the sediments of Lake Kalapuna, Phoebe McInerney of Flinders University and her group will be presented in Papers in Paleontology.
The team found traces of osteomyelitis in at least four animals: a disease caused by bacteria, fungi or fungi that leads to bone inflammation and leads to an abnormal growth or cavity in the skeleton. It is a very painful process that greatly restricts movement and, with it, the search for food and water. Ten percent of the individuals found in Lake Kalapuna were affected. But the actual number could have been much higher, as McInerney and Co. From examining all the bones with the necessary efforts.
However, the number of sick animals was remarkably high, with disease occurring only very sporadically in birds today, the task force wrote. Osteomyelitis occurs, for example, when bacteria infect bone tissue after fractures or migrate from inflamed muscles. At that time, the epidemic may have hit a vulnerable population: 48,000 years ago, a series of severe droughts began, which in large parts of Australia reduced lakes and forests and caused the growth of arid regions.
Due to the lack of food and water, thunderbirds also had to roam more, which weakens them and makes them more susceptible to disease. Newly exposed mud areas on the lakes made access to the water difficult and ensured that the animals got stuck. This is one of the reasons for the great wealth of fossils in Lake Callabonna. So droughts and epidemics can affect thunderbirds just like the hunting and consumption of eggs by indigenous people, which has also been documented by archaeological sites.
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