'We know of no other example in rails, or of birds in general, that demonstrates this phenomenon so evidently.'
Extinction keeps coming for a chicken-sized bird on a small island in the Indian Ocean, but every time it has re-evolved back into existence, according to a new study.
White-throated rails are island colonizers that migrated from Madagascar in all directions. Those that landed on Aldabra eventually evolved to become flightless due to the lack of any predators. However, that evolutionary step became a liability as changing sea levels repeatedly inundated and killed off everything on the island twice starting some 136,000 years ago, researchers say.
"These unique fossils provide irrefutable evidence that a member of the rail family colonized the atoll, most likely from Madagascar, and became flightless independently on each occasion," Dr. Julian Hume, the lead researcher from the Natural History Museum, said in
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