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DETAILS
Zoom Details:
Early Evolution of Birds, Zoom Link
Dr. Daniel Field Cambridge University
Dr Field is an evolutionary biologist and vertebrate palaeontologist at Cambridge University where he is Director of Studies for Earth Sciences, University Assistant Professor and Strickland Curator of Ornithology. He is interested in the evolutionary origins of birds and other tetrapod groups. In 2020 he published the work which he and his team had done in discovering Asteriornis maastrichtensis (aka “the Wonderchicken”), the oldest-known modern bird fossil and an early relative of the group that gave rise to living chickens and ducks.
Daniel will be talking about this work and how birds survived and diversified following the mass extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. This includes looking at aspects such as how the modern bird skull evolved into its distinctive form. Daniel’s studies include the use of fossil, anatomical and molecular data and his talk promises to give us a very up-to-date insight into this fascinating field of research.
