Science

November 4, 2024

Evrim Yazgin
Cosmos science journalist


The 12-million-year-old fossil of an extinct, giant, carnivorous bird found in Colombia’s Tatacoa Desert could be the largest member of its kind. But it was probably killed by something much bigger.



Black and white illustration of terror bird
Life reconstruction of the terror bird Andalgalornis. Credit: John Conway via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Ancient South America was home to a group of birds known as “terror birds”. These ferocious, feathered hunters belong to the phorusrhacid (FOR-us-RAH-kid) family. They ranged from 1–3m tall. The largest specimens grew up to 350kg – the size of a large Siberian tiger.

Ancestors of terror birds emerged in the Palaeocene period (66–56 million years ago) immediately after the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous, taking advantage of the lack of competition from their larger dinosaur cousins. The oldest terror bird fossils date to 43 million years ago.

Large predatory birds were also prominent in Europe, Australia, Africa and North America. South America’s terror birds were the apex predators on the isolated continent. But South America’s isolation ended about 3 million years ago. This saw the migration south of North America’s sabre-toothed cats.

There were mammalian predators prior to this, but none reached the size and power of the lion-sized Smilodon. The terror birds weren’t able to adapt fast enough to the new predators on the block. Their numbers dwindled and terror birds disappear from the fossil record about 100,000 years ago.

More:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/palaeontology/giant-terror-bird-fossil/