Summary

In 2009, researchers working in the Liang Bua cave on Flores Island came across a leg bone. The 190,000–120,000-year-old fossil was identified as a bird bone and set aside. Like many bird bones before it, it was overlooked and left to collect dust. Now, about 17 years later, researchers have identified the fossil as belonging to a new extinct megapode species, a ground-dwelling, chicken-like bird.

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