Flightless birds’ history upset by ancient DNA
Ancestors of kiwis and elephant birds didn’t just drift with the continents
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/sm_flightlessbird_feat_free.jpg?fit=860%2C460&ssl=1)
RELATIVELY ODD Ancient DNA has revealed an unusual pair of closest relatives: New Zealand’s flightless, roughly chicken-sized kiwi species (skeleton of adult Apteryx australis shown) and Madagascar’s huge elephant bird (egg of Aepyornis maximus shown).
Kyle Davis and Paul Scofield/Canterbury Museum