Ice ice birdy!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Arctic birds are ecosystem all-stars. But when did they first take on the poles?
Enter Patrick S. Druckenmiller and team from University of Alaska’s Museum of the North!
They discovered Arctic bird fossils from seventy million years ago, when dinosaurs still ruled the earth! Ancient Arctic climates brought months of darkness in winter, followed by endless summer sun. And yet, birds nested there year-round, rather than just passing through.
This is the oldest evidence of birds breeding at polar latitudes. While dinosaurs vanished, these Arctic birds toughed it out through extreme weather.
They must have really liked the taste of Vanilla Ice!
Reference: A Chen,E M Steell,R B J Benson,D J Field,Toward a Comprehensive Anatomical Matrix for Crown Birds: Phylogenetic Insights from the Pectoral Girdle and Forelimb Skeleton, Integrative Organismal Biology, 7, 1, (2025). https://doi.org/10.1093/iob/obaf029