#avititan

[on-beyond-holocene]

Avititan major

At up to nine meters tall and around 15 tons in weight, Avititan is the largest terranseran and the largest terrestrial bird to ever live. To remain balanced on two legs, it adopts a more upright posture and concentrates dense bone in the hips and tail. Extensive skeletal pneumatization and complete loss of the forelimbs and pectoral girdle further help reduce weight.

Avititan is adapted for browsing from tall conifers, using complexly serrated pseudoteeth on its beak to strip leaves and needles from trees. Although not the apex of nutrition, this food is efficiently digested via an extensive gizzard and strong digestive acids. This acid and the contents of the stomach and gizzard can be regurgitated as a last-ditch anti-predator defense. Avititan lives in small groups consisting of 5-10 individuals on average. Larger groups tend to have more immature individuals, presumably as a means of mutual protection.

[on-beyond-holocene]

Siberia, 200 million years hence

Although Avititan is considered prey of Tyrannosorex, it is rare for fully-grown adults to be successfully hunted. Greatest hunting success occurs when the giant shrews hunt in groups, and even then a meal is not guaranteed. The sheer bulk of a healthy adult Avititan allows individuals to survive even extensive blood loss and envenomation, at least long enough for the predators to be driven away. Tyrannosorex primarily prey on on juvenile individuals and, as pictured here, carcasses.