Jamaica linked to Yale prehistoric bird find

RESEARCHERS AT Yale University and the Smithsonian Research Institute have discovered a chicken-sized prehistoric bird which used its club-like wings as a weapon during fights.

The bird, called Xenicibis, is believed to be a member of the ibis family and lived in the Jamaican region about 10,000 years ago.

Dr Susan Davis, senior research officer in charge of the clearing house mechanism at the Institute of Jamaica, said that with Jamaica known to have more than 30 species of indigenous birds, the discovery by the scientists adds to the country's repertoire.

"It gives us some interesting insight into the historical ties of our biodiversity," Davis told The Gleaner yesterday.

She said two species of birds, the glossy ibis and the white ibis, which could possibly be relatives of the Xenicibis, live in Jamaica's wetlands.

Meanwhile, researchers said the Xenicibis used its specialised wings like a flail, swinging its upper arm and striking its enemies with its thick hand bones.

Never seen before

As part of the study, the team analysed a number of recently discovered partial skeletons of Xenicibis and found that the wings were drastically different from anything they had seen before.

"When I first saw it, I assumed it was some sort of deformity," Nicholas Longrich, of Yale University, told the Daily Mail.

"No one could believe it was actually that bizarre."

He added: "We don't know of any other species that uses its body like a flail. It's the most specialised weaponry of any bird I've ever seen."

The bird, which was the size of a large chicken, is anatomically similar to other members of the ibis family, except for its wings, which include thick, curved hand bones unlike those of any other known bird.

Xenicibis also had a much larger breastbone and longer wings than most flightless birds.

While other birds are known to punch or hammer one another with their wings, Xenicibis used its hands, hinged at the wrist joint, like two baseball bats to swing at and strike its opponents.

The species, Xenicibis xympithecus, was described and named more than 30 years ago by Storrs Olson of the Smithsonian Institution, who recognised it was flightless, but lacked complete specimens. Working with Olson, Longrich went to Jamaica and found more fossils - including curved hefty hand bones.

The wings of flightless birds usually shrink after they abandon flight. But a flightless ibis that lived on Jamaica until about 10,000 years ago turned its hand bones into miniature baseball bats to defend its territory and probably its young.