By: Yereth Rosen
ANCHORAGE (REUTERS).- Fossilized tracks from two newly discovered prehistoric birds have been found in Alaska’s Denali National Park, according to findings released by an expert in Arctic paleontology. The previously unknown birds were among a wide variety of birds that left fossilized tracks in Denali, Tony Fiorillo, a paleontologist and curator at the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, told Reuters in an interview. “The skies over Denali were a pretty busy place,” he said. The birds are considered new species and now have names given by Fiorillo and his team — “Magnoavipes denaliensis,” incorporating the park’s name for a bird that left especially large tracks, and “Gruipeda vegrandiunis,” roughly translating to “tiny one,” for a bird that left small tracks. Fiorillo, lead researcher on the project, published his findings in the current issue of the Journal of Systematic Paleontology. Previous research determined that pterosaurs — flying winged reptile