Unveiling the Enigmatic Terror Bird: A Fascinating Discovery Shedding Light on Ancient South American Wildlife

The discovery of a terror‌ bird’s lower leg ⁤bone⁤ dating back⁣ to the Miocene epoch around 12 million years ago provides valuable information about ancient wildlife in northern‍ South America. This finding, detailed in a recent publication in Palaeontology, was led by Federico J. Degrange and involved Siobhán Cooke from Johns Hopkins University.

Unearthed in Colombia’s Tatacoa Desert, this fossil represents the northernmost evidence of these birds on ⁢the continent.⁣ The ⁤size ⁣of ⁢the bone suggests that this particular terror bird could be the ⁣largest species identified⁣ so far, ⁢potentially exceeding known Phorusrhacids by⁢ 5%–20%. Previous fossils ⁣indicate that these birds ranged from 3 to 9 feet tall.

Terror birds were ground-dwelling creatures with limbs built for speed and carnivorous⁤ diets. The significance of this find was only realized recently ‍when researchers created a detailed ⁢virtual model using advanced scanning technology from Johns‍ Hopkins Medicine.

Published on: November 4,⁢ 2024
Source: phys.org