Abstract:
The Department of Paraclinical Sciences of the Faculty of Veterinary Science is not only expanding its horizons, it is also digging deeper into the past. Dr Fritz Huchzermeyer, an extraordinary lecturer in the Department, was a co-author of an article that was recently published in the prestigious journal, Nature.
The work was done in collaboration with paleontologists in China. This publication reported the preservation of ovarian follicles in Mesozoic birds from China and the early evolution of avian reproductive behaviour. Crocodilians and birds are closely related to dinosaurs and are, therefore, ideal models to explain the reproductive behaviour of these extinct animals.