Sixty million years ago, just after the dinosaurs died out, giant birds with weaponous beaks鈥攁nd heads that vaguely resemble a T. Rex鈥攔uled over what is now South America.
The discovery of a new fossil of the aptly-named 鈥渢error bird鈥 provides the at the feathered predator to date. The suggests these birds had the ability to inflict some serious pain on their prey. The fossil also offers new insight into the formidable creature鈥檚 vocalizations: The preserved middle ear suggests that they were great at hearing low frequencies, and therefore probably communicated with a low bellowing sound. Exactly why these birds鈥攆aster and more fearsome than any of their modern relatives鈥攚ent extinct 2.5 million years ago remains a mystery.
Here鈥檚 how modern birds stack up against their long-dead relative.
Size:
- Terror birds: The largest species was 10 feet tall and . The newly discovered fossil is a more recent species, Llallawavis scagliai, and stands at a comparatively modest 4 feet.
- Modern birds: Ostriches and terror birds would be well matched in a basketball game鈥 The ancient bird鈥檚 closest relative is the seriema, a long-legged South American bird .
Mode of transport:
- Terror birds: Couldn鈥檛 fly, but they were plenty menacing on the ground.
- Modern birds: Ostriches don鈥檛 fly either. Instead, they while running. Seriemas can fly, but prefer to keep their feet planted firmly on the ground and use their wings primarily to woo mates.
Speed:
- Terror birds: Would be well-matched in a race against a cheetah鈥攖error birds were capable of speeds over 60 MPH.
- Modern birds: Ostriches could hold their own鈥攖hey鈥檙e able to hit speeds of 40 MPH in short bursts. But the , which can achieve flight speeds of more than 238 MPH while hunting.
Vocals:
- Terror birds: From the fossil鈥檚 intact inner ear, the part that sits just past the eardrum, researchers learned that the terror birds heard low frequencies鈥攁round 2,800 Hz鈥攁nd therefor posit that they probably had deep vocals to match.
- Modern birds: Ostriches and emus make low-frequency noises, possibly similar to those of the terror bird. So, what the ancient beast might have sounded like, compared to most other birds, which .
Diet:
- Terror birds: Terror birds ate anything smaller than them. And the most recent fossil includes a newly discovered bone that strengthened the connection between the skull and the beak. Its presence confirms that the birds were strong enough to against other animals.
- Modern birds: Seriemas have a carnivorous streak, too: In addition to plants, they eat lizards, frogs, rats, and other birds. They can鈥檛 hack their food, but they do against the ground.
Predation:
- Terror birds: They were the top predators on the continent of South America, before it collided with North America and jaguars and entered the competition.
- Modern birds: Cassowaries, Australian birds that are slightly smaller than ostriches and are closely related to the terror bird, have quite the mean streak. In 2013, Outside magazine suggests death-by-Cassowary as one of the top 10 worst ways to go. After a 30 MPH chase,
鈥淭he bird kicks and you stumble across a log. In a flash, it leaps nearly five feet into the air, landing beside your neck. You cover your face in fear as the cassowary nears. With one powerful kick, it opens a half-inch gash, nicking your carotid artery. Hearing your screams, a nearby camper comes to your aid, shooing off the bird. Within seconds of his arrival and eight minutes after the gash was formed, you slip into unconsciousness.
Yikes. Now imagine that scenario with a faster chase and a larger beak hacking at you. That鈥檚 what death by the most fearsome bird in the history of the world would be like.