Monster duck fossils discovered in Australia

The 26-million-year-old bones of a distant relative to the duck have been discovered in northwest Queensland.

‘Monster duck’ fossils found in Queensland, Australia. Image by eGuide Travel / CC BY 2.0

An ancestor of Dromornis stirtoni, the largest bird that ever lived on earth, the Dromornis murrayi could grow to weigh as much as 250 kilograms. The Dromornis murrayi had feathers, tiny wings, a wide beak, and was vegetarian. But despite having a very large body and head, the size of its brain was miniscule, which Australian palaeontologists claim made it sillier than a chicken. Read more: abc.net.au