Workers at a construction site for a new airport found an ancient flamingo egg fossil estimated between 8,000 and 12,000 years old.
The rare, remarkably preserved egg from the Pleistocene period was uncovered at the new Felipe Angeles airport in the State of Mexico, INAH said.
INAH is Mexico’s heritage institute, charged in part with protecting the nation’s ancient treasures.
The Pleistocene geological epoch, the most recent Ice Age, began 2.6 million years ago and ended around 11,700 years ago.
The flamingo egg fossil was found at a depth of 31 centimeters / one foot amid clay and shale.
The find implies that the area was the site of a shallow lake tens of thousands of years ago and that flamingos once thrived in central Mexico, officials said.
Today’s American pink flamingo species are more associated with the Yucatán Peninsula, as well as South America, the Caribbean, and Florida — not counting the plastic ones perched on front lawns everywhere.
Source: INAH
