Happy Nice Mall

In the red muddy soil of Gansu Province in China lies a small owl that has nested for nearly 6 million years, since an era known as the Late Miocene. The fossilized bird has outstretched talons, one of its wings is spread wide, and its sharp beak is pointing back over its shoulder.

You can imagine this little predator swooping down on an unsuspecting mammal on a cold night long ago. But an analysis of the fossil Published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences He suggests that the scene should probably take place in daylight: Judging by the size and shape of its eye sockets, the owl hunts in the sun instead of the moon. The fossil may provide clues to the evolutionary forces that transformed this bird and some other species into the owl equivalent of a morning person.

Li Zhiheng, a paleontologist from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and author of the new paper, said the fossil owl, an extinct species that researchers named Miosurnia diurnal, is perfectly preserved. This allowed the team to make precise measurements of his bones; this was something that was not possible with most other fossil owls. They then transferred the bird’s dimensions to a computer program that made predictions about an organism’s lifestyle and compared the data with the anatomies of various reptile and bird species.

Owls are best known for hunting and crowing at night, and indeed many modern owls are nocturnal. They prey primarily on creatures that are also awake at night. Night owls have many more rod cells in their eyes than cone cells, allowing them to see better in dim light.

But some birds are twilight, meaning they emerge at dawn and dusk, and yet others, a small handful of which include nesting owls, are diurnal, meaning they are active during the day. Scientists suspect that these diurnal owls evolved from their nocturnal ancestors, meaning they changed their activity period at some point in the past. However, there are no clear answers to explain how a limited number of owls evolve during the day.

The fossil in the new study has long eye sockets and bony rings around the eyes. These shapes are similar to modern day owls. The researchers found that with eyes of this size and shape, owls are more likely to see in daylight. Of course, Dr. With no one around to observe the owl in action, researchers must make educated guesses—no one knows for sure what this owl’s behavior is, Li said.

Still, if some owls transitioned to a diurnal lifestyle six million years ago, it may be possible to find clues as to what caused them to make this change in what we know about their environment. Dr. Li said the part of Gansu Province where the fossil was found was near the Tibetan Plateau and was likely a cold and harsh place to live. Perhaps the small mammals that owls prey on have turned away from nocturnal activity to take advantage of the higher temperatures during the day. Perhaps over the ages they would have drawn their predators themselves into the light.

For now, the group can’t wait to analyze another previously unearthed, well-preserved owl from another species.

Dr. “There are many more stories to tell about the eye,” Li said.