12 million years ago, the Earth was populated by strange creatures that have now disappeared. Between giant sloths and massive glyptodonts, a terrible predator circulated. Nicknamed “terror birds”, these giant birds with powerful beaks could have reached a size greater than three meters, as this new study reveals.
They are nicknamed “terror birds”, and for good reason! These large carnivorous birds could in fact reach three meters in height and weigh several hundred kilos. Incapable of flying, they were however built for racing and equipped with an imposing and hooked beak, which certainly made them super-predators, taking the place of the dinosaurs which had just disappeared.
THE Phorusrhacidae would in fact have appeared around 62 million years ago and would have become extinct only 1.8 million years ago.
A team of researchers has just discovered the fossilized remains of a new specimen of a terror bird which would have lived 12 million years ago. And although it is only a single leg bone of the animal, the dimensions suggest that this specimen was much more imposing than the largest examples of Phorusrhacidae discovered to date. Its size could thus have exceeded three meters in height.
A strange fauna now extinct
The bone was discovered during excavations in the Tatacoa Desert in Colombia. In fact, it is also the first time that an individual of this speciesspecies is discovered so north of the South American continent. The discovery was presented in the journal Palaeontology.
But while this bird was certainly a formidable predator, it seems that it was not the only terror around. The bone is in fact marked with traces of teeth from a Purussaurusa kind of caimancaiman giant which must have reached nine meters long!
This discovery helps to reconstruct the environment of the past in this now desert region. 12 million years ago, it seems to have been completely different. The data fossilsfossils suggest a humid environment crisscrossed by numerous rivers. The terror bird lived there alongside primatesprimatesungulates, giant sloths and glyptodonts, sort of giant armadillos the size of a car! A ecosystemecosystem strange of which not much remains today.
