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Terror bird 2 meters high. IFL SCIENCE
ANTARCTICA – Recently, scientists discovered the fossil of a giant bird in Antarctica which was nicknamed the “Terror Bird”. This fossil shows that this bird was probably 2 meters tall and was an apex predator on the frozen continent around 50 million years ago.
As reported by IFL Science Wednesday (13/3/2024), this discovery is very important because it provides new insight into the evolution of birds and the Antarctic ecosystem in the past.
You could be forgiven for imagining cute little penguins when you hear “flightless birds” and “Antarctica.” But new research takes us back 50 million years, where far more terrifying creatures lived on the then-warmer continent: terror birds.
Dr. Carolina Acosta Hospitaleche and her team were excavating the La Meseta Formation – sedimentary deposits from the Eocene on Seymour Island, Antarctica – when they discovered something unusual.
Their find was a fossilized foot of a giant flightless bird, nicknamed the “Terror Bird of Antarctica”. This bird is much larger than a penguin, with a height of about 2 meters and weighing up to 150 kilograms. Its strong claws and large beak indicate that this bird is the top predator in its ecosystem.
This discovery suggests that Antarctica had a much warmer climate in the past, enough to support large flightless birds. It also suggests that the evolution of terror birds is more complex than previously thought.
This research is still ongoing, and scientists hope to find more fossils to learn more about the Antarctic terror bird.
The discovery of the Terror Bird shows that Antarctica once had a more diverse and dynamic ecosystem than we previously imagined.
This bird is an extraordinary example of bird evolution and shows how they have adapted to various environmental conditions.
(wbs)