The Miocene Epoch, around 23 to 2.6 million years ago, is known as the age of mammals. It’s when antelope, deer and giraffes appeared across Eurasia. Bears and dogs emerged for the first time, as did hyenas and saber-toothed cats. But the Miocene was about more than just mammals, it was a time when curious birds abounded. And researchers are pausing on an owl, since it had an unusual feature: It hunted by day.
Researchers published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) have uncovered a “spectacularly” preserved specimen of an owl that lived in the late Miocene, between six and 9.5 million years ago. It’s preserved enough that they can tell it wasn’t nocturnal like most modern-day owls.
“It’s three-dimensionally preserved with most bones still in articulation with one another,” says study co-author Thomas Stidham, a paleoecologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “The fossil preserves ...
