Etymology: Great Ancient Marsh-Dweller
First Described By: Miller, 1944
Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostaylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Neoaves, Aequorlitornithes, Mirandornithes, Phoenicopteriformes, Palaelodidae
Referred Species: M. connectens, M. peiranoi, M. goliath, M. opsigonus
Time and Place: Between 20 and 6.8 million years ago, from the Burdigalian to the Tortonian of the Miocene
Megapaloelodus is known from a variety of environments: the Ituzaingo Formation, the Graupensandrinne, the Almejas Formatio, the Temblor Formation, the Barstow Formation, the Batesland Formation, the Juntura Formation, and the Grillental Site; ranging across Argentina, Germany, Mexico, the USA, and Namibia.
Physical Description: Do you ever wonder what a Flamingo would look like if it tried to swim? Well, here is your answer: the Giant Swimming Flamingo, Megapaloelodus. The swimming-flamingos were a ridiculous group of dinosaurs from the Cenozoic that combined the swimming of the grebes with the weird wading of their close relatives, the flamingos - and these things were common and they were huge. Megapaloelodus was a prime example of that, and it was extremely widespread. Like other members of its group, it lacked the weird filter-feeding bill of modern flamingos, but also the more narrow beak of modern grebes - instead, it had a fairly generalistic, middle-of the road beak, triangular and sharp. It had long legs, but not quite as long as the living flamingos, and a long neck and squat body - also like living flamingos. But it retained ankles that would have allowed Megapaloelodus to stand upright for a long period of time, but it was also able to wade in deep water and swim around like a wading duck. Megapaloelodus was, in a lot of ways, also convergent with modern Flamingos - able to properly wade in the water without having to tread it like living ducks do. The average species of this creature was about 1.5 meters tall, though at least one species (that may or may not actually belong to the genus) got as big as 1.8 meters tall.
Diet: Megapaloelodus would have fed on aquatic invertebrates and fish.
Behavior: As a swimming flamingo, Megapaloelodus would have divided its time somewhat between wading in water and standing on the bottom of the lakes and coastlines it called home, searching for food wherever it could - and swimming out into deeper waters to find more food to eat. Not a filter-feeder, it would have probably had to scoop up food with its beak, gathering as many shelly creatures and fish as it could in order to feed upon it. Since these dinosaurs were so common, it seems likely they lived in large flocks like living Flamingos do, associating with each other in order to stay safe in the face of large predatory mammals and birds, and also to search for new sources of food! As a dinosaur, it most likely took care of its young, though we don’t have fossil evidence of its reproductive behaviors.
Ecosystem: Megapaloelodus was found all over the world during its time, usually associated with bodies of water, such as lakes, estruary bays, and coastlines. In fact, Megapaloelodus especially favored coastlines, indicating that it probably did feed at least somewhat on similar things as living flamingos - salt or brachish-water creatures. Whether or not it would have been pink like living flamingos seems somewhat unlikely. In these environments, Megapaloelodus would have interacted with a wide variety of late-Cenozoic creatures - whales that were almost, but not quite, like living ones; a wide variety of sharks big and small; but also more inland creatures where Megapaloelodus would have spent a considerable amount of time in more lake and swampy environments, where it would interact with rabbits, rodents, ruminants, horses, and bear-dogs. As for other dinosaurs, Megapaloelodus lived in the same place as many - more than I am able to list here - but notable neighbors include the flightless auk Mancalla, the pseudotoothed bird Osteodontornis, the pheasant Miortyx, a variety of ducks and swans, the hoatzin Namibiavis, and potential ostriches. In short - where you looked, especially in North America and on the coasts, you probably could find a swimming-flamingo, whether Megapaloelodus or otherwise.
Other: Megapalelodus is a fascinating species due to the fact that it is one of the swimming flamingos… except it could actually properly wade like a true flamingo! This showcases that the flamingo-lifestyle evolved multiple times in the grebe-flamingo group. Now we just need to find some Wading Grebes…
Species Differences: M. connectens was the original species of this genus, known from the Miocene of North America; it is possible that it is actually two species, including the often-ignored M. peiranoi, given the range of time and places they lived in, but they were nearly identical and that is hotly disputed. M. opsigonus is also known from later in time, and it was somewhat larger than the earlier M. connectens. The real controversial species is M. goliath - the biggest of all of these, it was much more similar to Palaelodus than to Megapaloelodus and thus might be a part of that genus instead.
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