A 68-million-year-old skull fossil found in Antarctica has revealed the oldest known modern bird, which was likely related to the waterfowl that live by lakes and oceans today, according to new research.

A near-perfect fossilized skull discovered in Antarctica reveals the bridge between prehistoric and modern birds, a new study has found. The fossil is a specimen of a species called Vegavis iaai, which lived around 69 million years ago – more than 2 million years before the mass extinction that wiped out all non-avian dinosaurs.

Scientists have made an exciting discovery—a 69-million-year-old fossil found in Antarctica is the oldest known modern bird. This ancient bird, called Vegavis iaai, was an early relative of ducks and geese, proving that modern birds were already evolving before the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Scientists in Antarctica claim they have may have discovered the oldest modern bird ever found. The fossil which is a skull is believed to be 69-million-years old and belonged to a species called Vegavis iaai.

Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid impact triggered the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs. Yet, some early birds, including the ancestors of modern waterfowl, survived. A new discovery from Antarctica provides fresh insight into their evolution.

In 1992, a paleontologist unearthed the fossil of a prehistoric bird called "Vegavis iaai" in Antarctica and hypothesized that it was an early relative of today's ducks and geese. However, because the fossil was missing a skull,