bigbird
© @ Marlin PetersonResearchers confirmed the prehistoric birds presences in the winter land after re-examining a toe bone found on Ellesmere Island. Discovered in the 1970s, this is the first evidence suggesting this species exists above the Arctic Circle.
Some 53 million years ago, a six-foot, flightless bird roamed a swampy land that is now the frozen Arctic. Researchers confirmed the prehistoric birds presences in the wintry land after re-examining a toe bone found on Ellesmere Island.

Ellesmere Island
© Googlemaps
Discovered in the 1970s, this is the first evidence suggesting this species exists above the Arctic Circle. The fossil is a match with the toe bones discovered in Wyoming along side other remnants belonging to the prehistoric bird, Gastornis, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and the University of Colorado Boulder. The exotic bird is believed to have weighed several hundred pounds with a head the size of a horse's.

'The Gastornis material reported from Ellesmere Island is the northernmost record of that taxon in North America,' reads the study published in journal Nature. 'Some galloanserine birds today (such as Ruffed Grouse, Spruce Grouse, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Willow Ptarmigan, and Rock Ptarmigan) are Arctic residents, and even some waterfowl winter above the Arctic Circle.'

Originally thought to be a fearsome carnivore, recent research indicates Gastornis probably was a vegan, using its huge beak to tear at foliage, nuts, seeds and hard fruit. Remnants of the bird have been discovered in Europe and Asia but never this far north. 'We knew there were a few bird fossils from up there, but we also knew they were extremely rare,' said CU-Boulder Associate Professor Jaelyn Eberl. 'In addition to the Gastornis bone from Ellesmere, another scientist reported seeing a fossil footprint there, probably from a large flightless bird, although its specific location remains unknown.'

This feathery giant roamed Ellesmere Island during early Eocene Epoch, which at the time was similar to the cypress swamps in the southeast US today. Finding the fossils also suggests the island was home to other warm weathered creatures such as turtles, alligators, primates, tapirs and even large hippo and rhino-like mammals.

While on the hunt for Gastornis, researchers stumbled upon a single fossil humerus, or upper wing bone, that once belonged to another Ellesmere Island bird from the same period. Named Presbyornis, it was similar to birds in today's duck, goose and swan family but with long, flamingo-like legs. And unlike Gastornis, Presbyornis could fly. Stidham compared casts of Presbyornis bones excavated in ancient Wyoming to the single bone from Ellesmere Island, including all of the marks for muscle attachments.

'I couldn't tell the Wyoming specimens from the Ellesmere specimen, even though it was found roughly 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) to the north,' said Professor Thomas Stidham of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

Ellesmere was also once booming with a diverse selection of plants and animals because, just as the island spends months in darkness today the same happened 50 million years ago. It is not clear is Presbyornis migrated north to Ellesmere Island every year or lived there year round.

This study illustrated what life was like on the island some 50 million years ago. [...] [W]hat we know about past warm intervals in the Arctic can give us a much better idea about what to expect in terms of changing plant and animal populations there in the future.'