Old eagle discovered

A WELL-PRESERVED 25million-year-old fossilised skeleton of Australia’s oldest eagle species has been found on an outback cattle station in South Australia.

Archaehierax sylvestris is one of the world’s oldest eaglelike raptors, and is understood to have been slightly smaller and leaner than the wedgetailed eagle. It’s the largest eagle known from the Oligocene period in Australia.

Flinders University scientists say the raptor is unlikely a direct ancestor to any species alive today. It would have hunted koalas, possums and other animals in trees surrounding a vast, shallow lake.