Ancient Fossil Unveils Leaf-Eating Habits of Early Birds

Analysis of a 120-million-year-old fossil skeleton of the early bird Jeholornis from China has revealed the oldest evidence of birds eating leaves, marking the earliest known evolution of arboreal plant-eating among birds. The pheasant-sized Jeholornis, a member of the second most primitive lineage of known birds, had teeth and a long bony tail but microscopic analysis of its stomach contents showed it had eaten leaves from magnoliid trees. This finding provides insight into the close ecological relationships between birds and flowering plants and suggests that the evolution of birds has been linked to flowering plants for over 100 million years.