The fearsome birds of prey could grow up to 12 meters in length

Millions of years ago, there were many carnivores Phorusrhacidae the family lived up to its common name—scary birds. Descendants of the flightless, carnivorous dinosaurs were the size of small dogs, but the largest known specimens reached a height of about 10 meters. However, now experts paleontologists have confirmed that an unknown species of fearsome bird grew up to 20 percent larger than any previously known, according to newly analyzed fossils. But two markings on the bone show that even top predators may encounter competition at times.

Scary birds are known to have lived between the Middle Eocene and the Late Pleistocene, about 43-0.1 million years ago. At least 20 models were made Phorusrhacidae family, some of which were estimated to have weighed 770 lbs. Despite their height and weight, the fearsome bird’s shape and beak shape suggest that this animal it evolved to eat smaller prey the size of a rabbit. However, fossils have recently been analyzed, providing new insight into the predators and their lives.

A study published on November 4th in the journal Paleontology it shows how much information can be obtained from a single bone. Although it was recovered almost 20 years ago in Colombia’s Tatacoa Desert, experts only confirmed that it belonged to the fearsome bird in 2023 after re-examining the tibiotarsus on the left hand. left—the lower leg bone of a bird similar to the human tibia or shin. In this case, the team also used a portable scanner from Johns Hopkins University to produce a three-dimensional model of a fossil that is about 12 million years old. In doing so, the paleontologists produced the size of the Miocene animal is somewhere between 5-20 percent larger than any other known species.

Despite its massive stature, this fearsome bird may have eventually met Purussaurus – an evergreen South American caiman believed to have reached 42 meters in length. The authors the study thinks that the remains of the remains of a scary bird are similar to the ancestor of crocodiles, and it was probably received during the game between the two ancient predators. Either that, or the dead bird was providing a snack for the ravenous Purussaurus.

The site where the fossil hunters found the tibiotarsus also provides important new information about where the fearsome birds have lived for millions of years. To talk to New York Times On Monday, co-author and Johns Hopkins University paleontologist Siobhan Cooke explained that the bone “confirms that the fearsome birds were part of the fauna that lived in La Venta. [Colombia] for a time, not a temporary thing.”

[Related: Giant 500-pound geese once honked around the Australian outback.]

Predators were not confined to the South American region, either. About five million years ago, the creation of the navigable Isthmus of Panama allowed a variety of animals from the previously isolated island to migrate and interact with those living in the Americas. The modern North during what is known as the Great American Biotic Interchange. Cooke cited fossils of similar fearsome birds found as far north as Texas and Florida showing “they weren’t [just] birds from Patagonia that decided to travel 5,000 kilometers north.”

Despite a few million years at the top of their food chain, the number of scarecrows began to decline, probably due to increased competition from cats and big cats. But even though the original fearsome birds have passed away, their young descendants are still terrifying—modern-day Brazilian farmers often use their closest living relative, the red-legged seriama, as livestock. which guard against predators and thieves.