Oldest Parrot Fossil Found — In Scandinavia?

The fictional dead Scandinavian parrot that an unhappy customer tried to return in a famous Monty Python TV sketch may have a 54-million-year-old real-life ancestor, if a new study is to be believed.

An ancient bird found on Denmark’s Isle of Mors has already been nicknamed the “Danish blue” in honor of the fictional “Norweigan blue” breed of parrot featured in the 1970s British comedy show.

The fossil—a large wing bone called the humerus—represents the oldest and most northerly remains of a parrot ever discovered, the study authors say.

Parrot fossils are scarce, because their small, light bones tend to be destroyed before they can become fossilized.

The discovery suggests that parrots evolved in the Northern Hemisphere before branching into wildly diverse species in the southern tropics.

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Tagged as: Birds, Danish Blue, Denmark, Fossils, Humerus, Isle of Mors, Monty Python, Norwegian Blue, Parrots, Scandinavia