12-foot bird lived alongside early humans

[Still Waters]

Almost two million years ago, giant hyenas, saber-toothed cats, and camels roamed across the European continent, perhaps sometimes clashing with a few of our early human relatives. Now, in a surprise to paleontologists, it seems these Pleistocene mammals and our hominin cousins also shared their domain with an enormous bird that was almost 12 feet tall.

The discovery, described today in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, represents the first giant flightless bird known to have lived in the Northern Hemisphere. The extinct animal, dubbed Pachystruthio dmanisensis, weighed in at a whopping 990 pounds—almost three times as much as its closest living relative, the ostrich.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/06/12-foot-bird-lived-alongside-early-human-relatives-fossils-reveal/

[AllPossible]

WOW.. That is gigantic. Probably took months of spear making to take down 1. Lol

[Stiff]

One specimen was found much, much later...

Spoiler

 

[Jon the frog]

Have you ever seen a chickens hunting frogs, snakes and other small critters ? I would be scared to hell to encounter such a bird.

Edited June 27, 2019 by Jon the frog

[openozy]

Probably like the Moa,easily hunted to extinction.

[Grim Reaper 6]

15 hours ago, Still Waters said:

Almost two million years ago, giant hyenas, saber-toothed cats, and camels roamed across the European continent, perhaps sometimes clashing with a few of our early human relatives. Now, in a surprise to paleontologists, it seems these Pleistocene mammals and our hominin cousins also shared their domain with an enormous bird that was almost 12 feet tall.

The discovery, described today in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, represents the first giant flightless bird known to have lived in the Northern Hemisphere. The extinct animal, dubbed Pachystruthio dmanisensis, weighed in at a whopping 990 pounds—almost three times as much as its closest living relative, the ostrich.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/06/12-foot-bird-lived-alongside-early-human-relatives-fossils-reveal/

Australopithecus, would have had a hard time dealing with that beast. While this branch of our family tree did apparently use primitive stone tools and hand weapons, they did not have spears at this time. I doubt they would have done much against such creature. All I can say is that's a big bird, and our humahn ancestors most likely ran when they encountered one.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 28, 2019 by Manwon Lender

[TonopahRick]

Where was Col. Sanders when he was needed.

[Piney]

1 hour ago, Manwon Lender said:

Australopithecus, would have had a hard time dealing with that beast. While this branch of our family tree did apparently use primitive stone tools and hand weapons, they did not have spears at this time. I doubt they would have done much against such creature. All I can say is that's a big bird, and our humahn ancestors most likely ran when they encountered one.

But Homo-Erectus made very nice spears and that's who lived there. In Europe at that time hyenas and some big cats were the biggest predators who hunted our ancestors. This thing was probably a "gentle giant".

1 hour ago, openozy said:

Probably like the Moa,easily hunted to extinction.

I think you called that one mate. Even the so called "terror birds" of North America were just seed crackers and didn't eat meat. 

[Farmer77]

7 minutes ago, Piney said:

But Homo-Erectus made very nice spears and that's who lived there.

Pffffft! Thats what the ancient aliens who actually built the spears want you to believe

[Piney]

5 minutes ago, Farmer77 said:

Pffffft! Thats what the ancient aliens who actually built the spears want you to believe

Dick........

[Grim Reaper 6]

12 minutes ago, Piney said:

But Homo-Erectus made very nice spears and that's who lived there. In Europe at that time hyenas and some big cats were the biggest predators who hunted our ancestors. This thing was probably a "gentle giant".

I think you called that one mate. Even the so called "terror birds" of North America were just seed crackers and didn't eat meat. 

While the article does say Homo-Erectus, according to what you read or who you listen, may disagree with that. The oldest human remains found in Euro-Asia to date have been found in Russia and they were between 1.5 to 1.7 million years old. No human remains more than 1 million years old have been found in areas where these birds once roamed.

take care

[Piney]

3 minutes ago, Manwon Lender said:

While the article does say Homo-Erectus, according to what you read or who you listen, may disagree with that. The oldest human remains found in Euro-Asia to date have been found in Russia and they were between 1.5 to 1.7 million years old. No human remains more than 1 million years old have been found in areas where these birds once roamed.

take care

Yeah, I was thinking the sites in Germany were that old but you might be right. 

I'm "babysitting" a family in the city and I'm away from my library. But I'm going to take a peek when I get home next week.

[Grim Reaper 6]

3 minutes ago, Piney said:

Yeah, I was thinking the sites in Germany were that old but you might be right. 

I'm "babysitting" a family in the city and I'm away from my library. But I'm going to take a peek when I get home next week.

Yea, it's very confusing, much of what is published not completely based on fossil evidence. In addition to this things change all the time due to new fossil remains being found. Then you have Theories being presented that are sometimes quoted as fact by publishers who don't do the proper research, such as the article that was used for this thread. I have a minor in paleontology, I have always been very interested in the evolution of man, and while I try to stay up to date it's very hard.

take care.

[Grim Reaper 6]

It appears that the oldest Proto-human remains found in Europe were found in Spain and they were between 800,000 and 1 million years old. They are calling this ancestor Homo-antecessor which is a distant relative of Homo-erects. The remains were found in a cave and consist of a jaw bone and parts of a skull.

[openozy]

1 hour ago, Piney said:

I think you called that one mate. Even the so called "terror birds" of North America were just seed crackers and didn't eat meat

Maori have big appetites,I shared a house years ago with a couple of them.Nice blokes but I reckon they could have given a bbq'd moa a good nudge.

[Piney]

41 minutes ago, Manwon Lender said:

It appears that the oldest Proto-human remains found in Europe were found in Spain and they were between 800,000 and 1 million years old. They are calling this ancestor Homo-antecessor which is a distant relative of Homo-erects. The remains were found in a cave and consist of a jaw bone and parts of a skull.

They think it was the ancestor of the Neanderthal and Denisovan. 

I think this was the step between them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxgrove_Man

[Piney]

46 minutes ago, Manwon Lender said:

It appears that the oldest Proto-human remains found in Europe were found in Spain and they were between 800,000 and 1 million years old. They are calling this ancestor Homo-antecessor which is a distant relative of Homo-erects. The remains were found in a cave and consist of a jaw bone and parts of a skull.

You might be interested in this Colonel.

I had a few of these handaxes in my collection made from Dover flint. Found them on a railroad bed because the excavator pulled up the whole site. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acheulean

[Grim Reaper 6]

3 minutes ago, Piney said:

They think it was the ancestor of the Neanderthal and Denisovan. 

I think this was the step between them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxgrove_Man

I don't know, like I said this topic is very confusing. Someone makes a find and they don't compare it its other finds. So then they think their find is unique and they name it. I would bet if many of the finds were compared they would be found to be the same.

[Piney]

1 minute ago, Manwon Lender said:

I don't know, like I said this topic is very confusing. Someone makes a find and they don't compare it its other finds. So then they think their find is unique and they name it. I would bet if many of the finds were compared they would be found to be the same.

Well, they're just discovering a lot of Asian H. Erectus are actually Denisovans. But climate in the south isn't conducive to DNA so we will never know about some so called H. Erectus remains.  

[Grim Reaper 6]

6 minutes ago, Piney said:

You might be interested in this Colonel.

I had a few of these handaxes in my collection made from Dover flint. Found them on a railroad bed because the excavator pulled up the whole site. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acheulean

I also have a collection, one of these days I will post a photo of an Ax head that I found in field near Cahokia Mounds. The thing weighs almost 10 lb's, its 5inches long, 4.6 inches wide and 1.9 inches thick. It was obviously attached to a handle because you see the worn groves from the material used to attach it.

[Grim Reaper 6]

4 minutes ago, Piney said:

Well, they're just discovering a lot of Asian H. Erectus are actually Denisovans. But climate in the south isn't conducive to DNA so we will never know about some so called H. Erectus remains.  

I totally agree!

[Piney]

3 minutes ago, Manwon Lender said:

I also have a collection, one of these days I will post a photo of an Ax head that I found in field near Cahokia Mounds. The thing weighs almost 10 lb's, its 5inches long, 4.6 inches wide and 1.9 inches thick. It was obviously attached to a handle because you see the worn groves from the material used to attach it.

Backpedal the "Lets Talk History Thread". I put pics of half a lithic workshop there.

Then there is this

 

[Silver Surfer]

3.6 metres on the moa but not the mass. Wow.