Huge 'demon ducks' with squished brains

[Eldorado]

Back when mega wombats, sheep-sized echidnas, and marsupial lions roamed the ancient lands of Australia, there also lived a gigantic flightless bird.

Known by some as the 'demon duck of doom', Dromornis stirtoni is described by paleontologist Trevor Worthy as an "extreme evolutionary experiment".

"It would appear these giant birds were probably what evolution produced when it gave chickens free reign [sic] in Australian environmental conditions," explained Worthy, a researcher from Flinders University in Australia.

Science Alert article