Mystery egg of the Night Parrot in Tanami Desert?
A mystery egg was found in the Tanami Desert of northern Australia 30 years ago. Many latched on to this specimen as being from the Night Parrot, thought to be extinct. DNA from the egg was compared to DNA of Night Parrot specimens in the Queensland Museum. The Brown Quail was found to be the "mother" of the Tanami egg.
All hope was not lost, however. In 2013 the Night Parrot was found to be still with us. A small population was discovered living in Western Australia, far away from Queensland. Much has been leaned about the environmental requirements for the rare bird's survival.
This shows that human hope is very strong. We will attribute links to things that are very weak. The egg does have unusual characteristics: it is sand white, not like the quail egg which is pale but speckled brown. It is pointed at one end though, typical of the quail.
◆ Ornithology by Ty Buchanan ◆
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night, parrot, brown, quail, mystery, egg, tanami, desert, queensland, western, australia, dna, rare, extinct
