Peacock Inherited Show-off Trait From Dinosaur Ancestors, New Study Suggests

A peacock takes a sunbath on a cold Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018 at the zoo in Dortmund, Germany. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
A peacock takes a sunbath on a cold Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018 at the zoo in Dortmund, Germany. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
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Peacock Inherited Show-off Trait From Dinosaur Ancestors, New Study Suggests

A peacock takes a sunbath on a cold Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018 at the zoo in Dortmund, Germany. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
A peacock takes a sunbath on a cold Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018 at the zoo in Dortmund, Germany. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

A new dinosaur fossil revealed that the show-off tendency in some birds, mostly peacocks, dates back to millions of years.

The new species, Ubirajara jubatus (the Latin meaning of the Lord of the Spear), was chicken-sized with a mane of long fur down its back and stiff ribbons projecting out and back from its shoulders, features never before seen in the fossil record. It is thought its flamboyant features were used to dazzle mates or intimidate foes.

An international team of scientists from the University of Portsmouth, and the State Museum of Natural History, Karlsruhe, Germany discovered the new species while examining fossils in Karlsruhe´s collection. The study was published on December 14 in the journal Cretaceous Research.

"What is especially unusual about the beast is the presence of two very long, probably stiff ribbons on either side of its shoulders that were probably used for display, for mate attraction, inter-male rivalry or to frighten off foes," said the study's lead author David Martill in a report published on the website of the Portsmouth University.

The ribbons are not scales or fur, nor are they feathers in the modern sense. They appear to be structures unique to this animal, which makes one ask: Why adorn yourself in a way that makes you more obvious to both your prey and to potential predators? "The truth is that for many animals, evolutionary success is about more than just surviving, you also have to look good if you want to pass your genes on to the next generation," Martill explained.

Modern birds are famed for their elaborate plumage and displays that are used to attract mates -- the peacock's tail and male birds-of-paradise are textbook examples of this. Ubirajara shows us that this tendency to show off is not a uniquely avian characteristic, but something that birds inherited from their dinosaur ancestors, as indicated this unique fossil.

Ubirajara jubatus lived about 110 million years ago, during the Aptian stage of the Cretaceous period, and is closely related to the European Jurassic dinosaur. It is the first non-avian dinosaur to be described from Brazil's Crato Formation, a shallow inland sea laid down about 110 million years ago.



Beloved Zurich Zoo Gorilla Euthanized after Years of Declining Health

FILE - N'Gola, the silverback male of the gorilla group at Zurich Zoo celebrates his 40th birthday on Wednesday, June 21, 2017, in Zurich. (Siggi Bucher/Keystone via AP, file)
FILE - N'Gola, the silverback male of the gorilla group at Zurich Zoo celebrates his 40th birthday on Wednesday, June 21, 2017, in Zurich. (Siggi Bucher/Keystone via AP, file)
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Beloved Zurich Zoo Gorilla Euthanized after Years of Declining Health

FILE - N'Gola, the silverback male of the gorilla group at Zurich Zoo celebrates his 40th birthday on Wednesday, June 21, 2017, in Zurich. (Siggi Bucher/Keystone via AP, file)
FILE - N'Gola, the silverback male of the gorilla group at Zurich Zoo celebrates his 40th birthday on Wednesday, June 21, 2017, in Zurich. (Siggi Bucher/Keystone via AP, file)

The Zurich Zoo’s beloved gorilla of more than 40 years has been put down after a long struggle with declining health, a zoo official in the Swiss city said this week.
N’Gola was 47 and one of the oldest male gorillas in European zoos, said Zurich Zoo director Severin Dressen.
He was a Western lowland gorilla — a subspecies of the great apes found in Africa and listed as critically endangered — and because of his mature age he was a silverback, after the gray hair on his back, The Associated Press reported.
N'Gola had suffered a host of health ailments, including arthritis, a heart condition and a tapeworm infection. He had been on painkillers for several years, eating less, and losing weight and muscle mass.
“It’s a hard decision to euthanize a silverback,” Dressen said.
"We’ve seen a crash in the wild over the span of three generations of 80% of the population," Dressen said about the decline of gorillas in the wild. Zoos can be helpful for research and public education about species protection, he added.
N'Gola was born in captivity and fathered 34 children. He was known for his sensitive side, taking “care of his harem, his group of females,” Dressen said.
In 2012, the female Nache in his harem suffered a burst appendix during advanced pregnancy, and both she and the unborn baby gorilla died, according to the Swiss newspaper Neue Zuricher Zeitung.
N’Gola spent weeks whimpering through the zoo enclosure looking for her, the report said.
Dressen also recalled a time when N'Gola looked after a baby gorilla in the group. "The mother wasn’t there, and he kind of — which is not a typical silverback behavior — took care of that baby.”
As for humans, N'Gola mostly ignored "other bipedal species on the other side of the glass” of his enclosure, Dressen said.