A BIRD the size of a raven that lived about 70 million years ago had the
sickle-shaped “killing claw” that was a trademark of predatory dinosaurs like
velociraptor.
A fossil of the bird, Rahona ostromi, was found in a small quarry in
Madagascar. It had long wings and probably flew well, a team of palaeontologists
reports in last week’s Science (vol 279, p 1915). “On the other hand,
it had a very dinosaurian foot,” says team member Luis Chiappe of the American
Museum of Natural History in New York.
Chiappe says this is good evidence that birds evolved from dinosaurs, a
theory that has recently been coming under attack.
