#phorusrhacids

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Is Gastornis a Terror bird? I know cladistically its not but I keep people saying it is, even though it's not even a predatory animal

Not even a little bit, it's closely related to chickens and ducks and is a large herbivore. It just superficially looks similar to terror birds.

[szethsmom]

Missed opportunity that there’s not more monster/horror movies about terror birds, tbh. Like “ohhh velociraptor is so scary!” Have you seen the ten foot tall murder chicken? Because it definitely saw you, and it wants to eat your face.

[saritawolff]

#Archovember Day 19 - Kelenken guillermoi

The Phorusrhacids, commonly known as “terror birds” were the last dinosaurian apex predators to hunt on land. The largest known phorusrhacid, Kelenken guillermoi, lived in the Middle Miocene of Argentina. It is known only from a skull (though it is one of the most complete large phorusrhacid skulls) and a leg and toe bone, so the rest of its anatomy must be inferred from other phorusrhacids. The skull, the largest of any known bird, is 716 mm (2.3 ft) long, allowing us to estimate Kelenken’s height at around 3 m (9.8 ft) tall. Kelenken would have lived in an open, grassland environment. Its long, slender tarsometatarsus suggests that it was a fast runner, likely adapted for chasing down small animals like rodents, marsupials, and lizards. While large, its skull was relatively weak, so it would have had difficulty gripping onto and subduing large, struggling prey. Instead, it likely preyed on animals it could swallow whole and/or, if targetting larger prey, used repetitive, targeted pecks with its beak. It could have also used its feet to restrain prey. While only Kelenken’s phalanx toe bone has been found, other large phorusrhacids (as well as their living relatives, the seriemas) have a “sickle claw” on their second digits, similar to dromaeosaurs. These claws could have also been used to restrain prey, or to kick out and strike.

Argentina during the Colloncuran age was rife with small critters and did not have a lot of large predators, making Kelenken the likely apex predator. While it probably couldn’t have taken down large adult ungulates like Astrapotherium and Theosodon, it may have been able to hunt typotherians like Hegetotherium, Interatherium, Protypotherium, and Pachyrukhos. Rodents would have been most often on the menu, as cavys were abundent here, as well as lizards and snakes such as Waincophis. Small sparassodonts like Patagosmilus and Cladosictis, would have been both competitors and prey. Only one other dinosaur has been found here so far, the owl Yarquen.

[proton-wobbler]

Battle Royale

Gone, but not forgotten (D)

Extinct or near extinct birds only here. There aren't enough to have this be more than one bracket, so there will definitely be an info-post for the winner.

Vote for your Favorite

Pied Raven

Passenger Pigeon

White-eyed River Martin

Carolina Parakeet

Annakacygna (Huge Flightless Swan)

Pelagornis Sandersi (Enormous Toothed Waterbird)

Phorusrhacids (Terror Birds)

Choiseul Pigeon

Voting ended onJun 25, 2023

[blaiddydsaurus]

Titanis Walleri

[dinodorks]

To help fill the queue: Terror Birds. Especially interested in learning about similarities and differences between modern-day flightless birds, terror birds, and maniraptorans (if that is the right word).

Oh this is a great one! (and maniraptorans is right, don't worry!)

Might I recommend this excellent video by Moth Light Media on the subject?

[jpanimador]

• Pliocene Predators •

I like drawing kittens and birdies 🐈🐦

[albertonykus]

New episode of Through Time and Clades! This week, we meet a group of raptorial birds that has re-entered the ancestral theropod niche of being primarily ground-running hunters. These are the cariamiforms, and though they survive only as two modestly-sized South American species today, they once roamed across North America and Europe as well, even reigning in some regions as terrifying apex predators.