News Paleontology

Fossils of Flyers: Bones tell why Atlantic albatross disappeared

By Kate Ramsayer

- More than 2 years ago

Two years ago, scientists described 5-million-year-old albatross fossils representing five different species. The fossils, found in North Carolina, raised a question: If albatross once soared above the Atlantic Ocean, why do they now nest only in scattered locations around Antarctica and the northern Pacific?

H. Hasegawa, Toho Univ.

OCEANS APART. Albatross still breed on Pacific islands and in Antarctica, but there’s evidence that the Laysan albatross (above) colonized Atlantic sites up to 5 million years ago, and short-tailed albatross (below), as recently as 400,000 years ago.