Largest "Terror Bird" Fossil Found in Argentina

National Geographic.com ^ | October 25, 2006 | by Sean Markey

[aculeus]

Just in time for Halloween, paleontologists have dug up a truly scary creature—Big Bird's bad, buff brother.

The real-life fossils belong to a new species of phorusrhacid, giant predators also known as terror birds that once dominated South America.

Terror birds were the biggest birds the world has ever seen, and the new species is by far the largest terror bird yet, says paleontologist Luis Chiappe, director of the Dinosaur Institute at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, California.

"Some of these birds had skulls that were two and a half feet [almost a meter] in length. [They] were colossal animals," he said.

The new, currently unnamed species stood about ten feet (three meters) tall and had a head as big as that of a horse.

The largest terror birds could likely swallow dog-size prey in a single gulp, experts say.

The bird's most striking feature—literally—was its giant nose, a roughly 18-inch (46-centimeter) beak with a sharp, curving hook shaped like an eagle's beak.

Whether the flightless birds used their beaks to impale or bludgeon their prey is unknown, Chiappe says. But a single hit from their "massive skull[s] would have killed anything immediately."

Intact Skull

Terror birds were first discovered in the late 1800s and are believed to have become South America's top predators after the dinosaurs died off 65 million years ago.

A high school student unearthed the ancient remains of the new species three years ago in the Patagonia region of Argentina (see photos of Patagonia).

Chiappe and his colleagues examined the specimens and found that the fossils—a well-preserved skull and foot bones—are about 15 million years old.

[continued at link]

[raygun]

I believe that broiing the bird in peanut-oil in certain areas of CaliforNia would be bad at this point in time, m'Kay?

[rlmorel]

Heheh

[rlmorel]

Ah sorry. You already KNEW the answer to your question. You were being rhetorical.

[rlmorel]

Was that wild, or what?

[Swordmaker]

Probably tastes like chicken... tough chicken...

[sully777]

A little fun on a Friday night...

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks pcottraux for the ping, and aculeus for posting the topic. A paleontology ping. :')

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

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[John 6.66=Mark of the Beast?]

How do they know that this was a flightless bird? The the scull all they found and if so can someone determine from just the scull bone that the bird could not fly?

[Recon Dad]

How long do you really think a species like this would last when a group of good ol boys found out they tasted like "chicken".

[ExSoldier]

In the light is a huge tiger, dragging the limp body of one of their boatmates along the shore, his head in the Tiger's mouth. Apparently the tiger had leaped from a high bank to the opposite side directly over the boat. In transit, it had chomped on the man's head, and pulled him straight up and out of the boat.

The late Peter Hathaway Capstick, often referred to as the last of the Great White Hunters, put out a series of books in which there were many similar real life instances especially in Africa in the early 1900's. Death in the Long Grass is excellent as is Death in the Silent Places. Capstick was chosen to do the intro for the book by J.H. Patterson titled The Man Eaters of Tsavo. This was the book upon which the movie with Michael Douglas "The Ghost and the Darkness" was loosely based.

[Tribune7]

The reason I heard these birds went extinct is because of jaguars coming south into their territory.

[mutley]

Hey! I have a turkey fryer that I use every Thanksgiving. So, stop making fun of me.

And I only had one small fire so far. Big deal...so I had to rebuild the deck.

[ExSoldier]

I'm just curious, just supposing this thing was a "living" fossile, what kind of load would you use?

M2HB .50 BMG. Works well on armored personnel carriers. It'll do for an overgrown chicken.

[ASA Vet]

Here're a couple of young female tigers.
I asked the little one if the larger one was "purring" like a house cat would when her belly was rubbed.
She said it was not purring.

[Conservomax]

[RightWhale]

While many buffalo hunters brought their elephant guns to the wild west, it was noted that those guns didn't hold up well. Maintenance was quite a problem. Wyatt Earp brought a shotgun loaded with slug. It did the job just as well in his opinion and didn't wear out after a few shots.

[djf]

LOL! Nothing makes for a more joyful season than a sittin by a warm fire.

Chestnuts roasting, happy holidays, all that jazz!!

[ndt]

"I hope you get it"

No, I'm afraid I don't. You start with cheetahs and end up with fish too deep to see their own patterns and that is supposed to be evidence of what, I have no idea.

[rlmorel]

LOL!!!!

[curmudgeonII]

Looks a lot like Helen Thomas to me.