Odontopteryx False Toothed Pre Historic Bird 230mm overall length of the matrix which encapsulates the associated articulated Humerus and Radius/Ulna attachment. The articulation here is a very important feature of the fossil record of the false toothed bird and enables the study of how the joint would have functioned and the articulation of the bones to each other. An important study fossil from this classic Moroccan fossil layer of Benguerir fossil deposit, the Ganntour basin, Oulad Abdoun phosphate mines.
Origin: Phosphate deposits of Khouribga, Benguerir Fossil Deposit, Ganntour basin, Oulad Abdoun Basin, Oued Zem, Morocco, North Africa.
Pelagornithidae birds are a toothless pelagic bird of the Palaeocene and Eocene of Morocco. Actually, this thin wall boned prehistoric bird had the appearance of teeth in its beak or jaws, these were, in fact, an anatomical feature termed Volkmann's canals, in the simplest terms Volkmann's canals are any small channels within the bone that transmit blood vessels. These atomic cortical bone structures appear along the outer edge of the birds' jaws and were not very strong, prone to breaking and quickly worn down. Unlike teeth of dentin, these arrangements were more adapted to holding soft-bodied creatures like cephalopods or fish which enabled the toothless birds to grasp and immediately swallow prey.