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Largest "Terror Bird" Fossil Found in Argentina
National Geographic.com ^
| October 25, 2006
| by Sean Markey
Posted on 10/27/2006 8:27:42 PM PDT by aculeus
Just in time for Halloween, paleontologists have dug up a truly scary creatureBig 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 featureliterallywas 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 fossilsa well-preserved skull and foot bonesare about 15 million years old.
[continued at link]
TOPICS: Extended News
KEYWORDS: cryptozoology; godsgravesglyphs
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To: rlmorel
I believe that broiing the bird in peanut-oil in certain areas of CaliforNia would be bad at this point in time, m'Kay?
21
posted on
10/27/2006 10:35:37 PM PDT
by
raygun
(Whenever I see U.N. blue helmets I feel like laughing and puking at the same time.)
To: KarinG1
22
posted on
10/27/2006 10:36:21 PM PDT
by
rlmorel
(Time Magazine...Where you get Million Dollar Words From people with a Ten Cent Fart for a brain.)
To: raygun
Ah sorry. You already KNEW the answer to your question. You were being rhetorical.
23
posted on
10/27/2006 10:37:30 PM PDT
by
rlmorel
(Time Magazine...Where you get Million Dollar Words From people with a Ten Cent Fart for a brain.)
To: TomasUSMC
24
posted on
10/27/2006 10:38:29 PM PDT
by
rlmorel
(Time Magazine...Where you get Million Dollar Words From people with a Ten Cent Fart for a brain.)
To: aculeus
Probably tastes like chicken... tough chicken...
25
posted on
10/27/2006 10:45:08 PM PDT
by
Swordmaker
(Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!)
To: aculeus
A little fun on a Friday night...
26
posted on
10/27/2006 10:56:54 PM PDT
by
sully777
(You have flies in your eyes--Catch-22)
To: aculeus; pcottraux; blam; FairOpinion; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 24Karet; 3AngelaD; ..
27
posted on
10/27/2006 11:03:32 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Dhimmicrati delenda est! https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: aculeus
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?
To: rlmorel
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".
29
posted on
10/28/2006 4:13:12 AM PDT
by
Recon Dad
(Marine Spec Ops Dad)
To: rlmorel
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.
30
posted on
10/28/2006 6:33:35 AM PDT
by
ExSoldier
(Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on dinner. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.)
To: rlmorel
The reason I heard these birds went extinct is because of jaguars coming south into their territory.
31
posted on
10/28/2006 6:39:11 AM PDT
by
Tribune7
(But Wolf, there's a difference between news and terrorist propaganda.)
To: djf
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.
32
posted on
10/28/2006 6:41:39 AM PDT
by
mutley
("I read the Koran, and didn't find anything of value in it.")
To: raygun
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.
33
posted on
10/28/2006 7:07:25 AM PDT
by
ExSoldier
(Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on dinner. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.)
To: rlmorel
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.
34
posted on
10/28/2006 7:11:22 AM PDT
by
ASA Vet
(If you know how many firearms you have, you don't have enough yet.)
To: aculeus
35
posted on
10/28/2006 9:01:33 AM PDT
by
Conservomax
(There are no solutions, only trade-offs.)
To: raygun
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.
36
posted on
10/28/2006 9:57:16 AM PDT
by
RightWhale
(Repeal the law of the excluded middle)
To: mutley
LOL! Nothing makes for a more joyful season than a sittin by a warm fire.
Chestnuts roasting, happy holidays, all that jazz!!
37
posted on
10/28/2006 11:02:49 AM PDT
by
djf
(I'm not ISLAMOPHOBIC, just BOMBOPHOBIC!! Whether that's the same is up to Islam!!!)
To: raygun
"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.
38
posted on
10/28/2006 11:30:39 AM PDT
by
ndt
To: Conservomax
39
posted on
10/28/2006 12:10:27 PM PDT
by
rlmorel
(Time Magazine...Where you get Million Dollar Words From people with a Ten Cent Fart for a brain.)
To: aculeus
Looks a lot like Helen Thomas to me.
40
posted on
10/28/2006 1:04:36 PM PDT
by
curmudgeonII
(One man...and the Lord...are a majority.)
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