CT scans of toothed bird fossil leads to jaw-dropping discovery

An artist’s impression of the last known toothed bird, Janavis finalidens, surrounded by ‘wonderchickens’. Photograph: Phillip Krzeminski

Fossil experts have cooked the goose of a key tenet in avian evolution after finding a premodern bird from more than 65m years ago that could move its beak like modern fowl.

The toothy animal was discovered in the 1990s by an amateur fossil collector at a quarry in Belgium and dates to about 66.7m years ago – shortly before the asteroid strike that wiped out non-avian dinosaurs.