Summary: Scientists have discovered evidence of what may be the largest terror bird species ever found, based on a fossil leg bone unearthed in Colombia’s Tatacoa Desert. The 12-million-year-old fossil not only represents the northernmost terror bird discovery in South America but also bears marks suggesting the creature met a violent end at the jaws of an ancient crocodilian.
Journal: Palaeontology, November 4, 2024
DOI: doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1601
Reading time: 4 minutes
A Remarkable Discovery Two Decades in the Making
Imagine a bird nearly twice as tall as a person, equipped for running and hunting other animals. These “terror birds” once roamed South America, and scientists have just identified what could be the largest specimen ever found.
The evidence comes from a single leg bone discovered in Colombia’s fossil-rich Tatacoa Desert. Though found nearly 20 years ago, the specimen wasn’t recognized as belonging to a terror bird until 2023.
Ancient Giant Among Giants
“Terror birds lived on the ground, had limbs adapted for running, and mostly ate other animals,” said Siobhán Cooke, Ph.D., associate professor of functional anatomy and evolution at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
The newly analyzed fossil suggests this particular bird was 5%–20% larger than any previously known terror bird species. For context, earlier discoveries showed these prehistoric predators ranged from 3 to 9 feet in height.
A Violent End Written in Bone
The fossil tells a dramatic story of life and death in prehistoric South America. The leg bone bears what appear to be teeth marks from an extinct caiman called Purussaurus – a fearsome predator that could reach lengths of up to 30 feet.
“We suspect that the terror bird would have died as a result of its injuries given the size of crocodilians 12 million years ago,” Cooke explains.
A Window into a Lost World
The fossil discovery paints a picture of a dramatically different world. What is now the Tatacoa Desert was once a landscape of meandering rivers where terror birds shared their habitat with car-sized armadillo relatives called glyptodonts, giant ground sloths, and various hoofed mammals.
“It’s a different kind of ecosystem than we see today or in other parts of the world during a period before South and North America were connected,” Cooke says.
Glossary
- Tibiotarsus: A lower leg bone in birds equivalent to the human tibia or shin bone
- Phorusrhacids: The scientific name for terror birds
- Miocene epoch: A geological time period from approximately 23 to 5.3 million years ago
- Glyptodonts: Ancient relatives of armadillos that grew to the size of cars
Knowledge Check Quiz
- Question: How much larger was this terror bird compared to previously known specimens?
Answer: 5%–20% larger than known Phorusrhacids - Question: When was the fossil first discovered and when was it identified as a terror bird?
Answer: It was discovered nearly 20 years ago but wasn’t recognized as a terror bird until 2023 - Question: What evidence suggests how this terror bird died?
Answer: The bone bears probable teeth marks from an extinct caiman called Purussaurus - Question: What makes this fossil discovery geographically significant?
Answer: It represents the northernmost evidence of terror birds found in South America
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