Massive Flying 'Toothed' Bird

Galvasean · 17-09-2010 2:38pm #1

"Birds with teeth!" they once exclaimed with indignation. "As rare as a hen's tooth" was another one.
A new paper has been released on Pelagornis chilensis, a massive bird with a 17 foot wingspan and jagged tooth like structures on it's beak which lived between 5 and 10 million years ago. It probably lived a lifestyle similar to that of the modern albatross. It is among the largest birds ever to have taken flight. The biggest being Argentavis magnificens which had awingspan of 25 feet.

P. chilensis was identified based on an "exquisitely and exceptionally preserved" fossil skeleton that was found to be 70 percent complete, said study co-author David Rubilar of the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural in Chile.

The specimen includes the largest and most complete fossil bird wing yet excavated. Previous bony-toothed bird fossils included wings dug up in pieces, if it all, making it harder to accurately establish wingspan.

Read more here (click on additional pictures for additional info).

Illustration by Carlos Anzures

marco_polo · 17-09-2010 4:28pm

Cool. Sort of an Avian 'Panda thumb' really

Galvasean · 17-09-2010 4:31pm

Had to google "panda's thumb". Fascinating.

marco_polo · 17-09-2010 4:51pm

Galvasean wrote: »

Had to google "panda's thumb". Fascinating.

Didn't realise that even something as unusual as the pandas thumb has evolved independently twice.

Kess73 · 22-09-2010 12:40pm

Looks like a giant angry grey heron on steroids.

With teeth.:)

Rubecula · 02-10-2010 11:17am

Not sure about this so I thought I had better ask.

Argentavis magnificens, was/is that the thing also called the Thunderbird?

By the way I love the idea of a big angry grey heron on steroids with teeth.

"Pond Scum beware"

Galvasean · 02-10-2010 11:38am

Rubecula wrote: »

Not sure about this so I thought I had better ask.

Argentavis magnificens, was/is that the thing also called the Thunderbird?

Well, the name is thrown about rather clumsily IMO, hence why I avoid using it. The Thunder Birds were a race of giant birds in Native American mythology. Some have speculated that the legends were inspired by cave people's encounters with teratorns (the family of giant birds that Argentavis belongs to). The last of the teratorns seem to have died out some 10,000 years ago so encounters with humans are likely.

The other prehistoric 'Thunderbirds' are the giant flightless dromornithids which lived in Australia. THey went extinct possibly as recently as 20,000 years ago, so their timespan would have overlapped with the Aboriginal people.

Rubecula · 02-10-2010 12:46pm

"Polly wants his seeds............ but your head will do nicely"

Massive Flying 'Toothed' Bird

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