Life Imitates Python: "Norwegian Blue" of Pet Shop Fame Now Named as Ancestor of Modern Parrots

Heh.

Am I stupid for never even having wondered about the improbability of a tropical parrot being named the Norwegian blue?

Adding to the absurdity was the fact that parrots - being tropical birds - don't come from Scandinavia.

Or do they? For now, in a development putting the sketch in a completely different light, it turns out that the Norwegian Blue did exist.

Dr David Waterhouse, a fossil expert and Python fan, has found that parrots not only lived in Scandinavia 55million years ago, but probably evolved there before spreading into the southern hemisphere.

His discovery was based on a preserved wing bone of a previously unknown species, given the scientific name Mopsitta Tanta - and now nicknamed the Norwegian Blue.

...

A fossil expert has discovered that parrots not only lived in the region 55million years ago but probably evolved there before spreading to the Southern Hemisphere

Dr Waterhouse, 29, said of Mopsitta Tanta: "Obviously, we were dealing with a bird that is bereft of life, but the tricky bit was establishing it was a parrot."

...

However, the Pythons were wrong about one thing...the Blue could hardly have pined for the fjords.

"This parrot shuffled off its mortal coil around 55million years ago, but the fjords in Norway were formed during the last Ice Age and are less than a million years old," said Dr Waterhouse.

Told yesterday about the Blue's discovery, Michael Palin chuckled, saying: "It just shows that nothing is original."

In related news, the mysterious Sphinx has been positively identified by archaeologists as a proprietor of a cheese shop uncontaminated by cheese.

Thanks to Jack M.

posted by Ace at 08:07 PM

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