New ‘Terror Bird’ discovery reveals prehistoric predator’s terrifying size

A 12-million-year-old fossil of a prehistoric “terrorist bird” discovered in South America may represent the largest known member of its species found to date, a study says.

The shin bone of the “giant” bird was found by a museum curator in Colombia’s fossil-rich Tatacoa Desert about 20 years ago, but it was not recognized as a terrorist bird until 2023.

This year, researchers created a 3D virtual model of the specimen using a handheld scanner, allowing them to analyze the fossil for further study.

“We are talking about a species that was more than 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) and weighed more than 150 kilograms (330 pounds),” said study author Federico Javier Desgrange of the Center for Research in Geosciences in Argentina. Newsweek.

Phorusracidae, commonly known as “terror birds”, belong to an extinct family of medium- to extremely large carnivorous birds that were apex predators for most of the Cenozoic era – about 66 million years ago until the present day.

These birds, found primarily in southern South America, had slender bodies and unique locomotor adaptations for running.The largest species does not fly.

Their “huge” beak and mechanical adaptations of the skull suggest that they were efficient predators.

“Terrible birds lived on the ground, had limbs adapted for running, and primarily fed on other animals,” study author Siobhan Cook, assistant professor of functional anatomy and evolution at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a press release.

In the latest article published in the magazine Articles on paleontologyThe authors presented the fossil as the first record of a large dire bird from Middle Miocene (about 16–11.6 million years ago) fossil deposits in central Colombia.

Although the specimen consists of only a fragmentary portion of a lower leg bone known as the left tibia, its size has led researchers to believe it may be consistent with one of the largest scarecrow birds to ever exist, perhaps weighing around 340 pounds – although this is very a rough estimate given the fragmentary nature of the remains. The fossil is also believed to be the northernmost evidence to date of such birds found in South America.

Researchers estimate the animal was about 5 to 20 percent larger than other known terrorist birds, which are believed to range in size from 3 to 9 feet tall. previously discovered fossils.

The specimens may well represent a new species in the group Phorusracidae. But limited material prevented researchers from definitively assigning the fossil to a new species or genus.

“While it is possible that this is a new species, we are not sure,” Desgrange said. Newsweek.

Interestingly, the fossil also bears tooth marks believed to likely belong to an extinct species of caiman or crocodile – Purussaurus – which is believed to have grown up to 30 feet in length.

“We suspect that the terror bird died as a result of its injuries. considering the size of crocodiles 12 million years ago,” Cook said.

Link

Desgrange, F. J., Cook, S. B., Ortiz-Pabon, L. G., Pelegrin, J. S., Perdomo, C. A., Salas-Gismondi, R., Link, A. (2024 ). A new giant terror bird (Cariamiformes, Phorusrhacidae) from the tropical Middle Miocene environment of La Venta in northern South America. Articles on paleontology.