Putting the bones of giant, extinct ‘thunderbirds’ under the microscope reveals how they grew

[Still Waters]

The largest flightless bird found anywhere in the world today is the ostrich. It stands about 2.5 metres tall and can weigh up to 240kg. But millions of years ago ostriches would have been dwarfed by several other flightless bird species.

One was Dromornis stirtoni, nicknamed the thunderbird. It lived in the late Miocene period of Australia, about 8 million years ago. Another, Vorombe titan, lived far more recently in Madagascar, off the coast of southern Africa. It is thought to have gone extinct in the 17th century after encountering humans. Fossil finds suggest that both species stood about 3 metres tall and were more than double the mass of ostriches.

Today all that remains of these birds are their fossilised bones and, in the case of Vorombe titan, a handful of eggs. This means that scientists know very little about the birds’ biology; for instance, the physical differences between male and female Dromornis stirtoni were unclear – until now.

https://theconversation.com/putting-the-bones-of-giant-extinct-thunderbirds-under-the-microscope-reveals-how-they-grew-193346

[Abramelin]

To me these giant 'thunderbirds' come across as giant lumbering parrots.

I think the somewhat smaller "terror birds" were something you wouldn't want chasing you:

https://www.wired.com/2014/03/absurd-creature-week-terror-bird/

[HSlim]

Ate his Wheaties and veggies. Next question

[qxcontinuum]

At the speed Africans are eating their wild life, all species would dissappear off the continent 

Edited January 6 by qxcontinuum

[LadyPhoenix]

Thunderbirds were not flightless, so I don't know how this study determines anything about those.  These were, in legend, large flying raptors. How likely t be real?  Well, that depends on who you ask.  Way back when I was in high school, we lived in Texas.  One summer's vacation was to several places, a couple of coastal ones and a place called Alamo Village, set out "in the middle of nowhere.  On a road that, as best I can recall, led to that location, we were paused for a bit by a number of common turkey vultures, collected near the road, with a few on the road.  The birds were there after some dead animal.  One was quite a bit larger than the rest  A lot larger.  Most were of the usual size, but this bad boy was ginormous.  He could look into the car, from a position standing on the road.  Far taller that way than the rest, and his wingspan was amazing.  The road was not paved, and was wide enough for two cars to pass one another, carefully.  Partly spread out, this bird's wings went past the edges, on both sides, of the road.  The span had to have been a good fifteen feet or more.  We didn't see them fully extended, but were amazed at the size.  At the time, we just wrote it off as a sort of "things really do get bigger in Texas" sort of circumstance, and went on our way.  Many years later, recalling this bird, I wanted to look up the biggest such vulture known.  The world's largest, the Andean condor, doesn't get anywhere near that large.  I've seen those up close, in zoos, and they don't stand that tall, either.  Besides, in appearance, other than size, the one we saw looked just like any other turkey vulture.  It seems clear to me that they can get bigger than what is the "accepted" size.

[Abramelin]

On 3/22/2023 at 12:43 AM, LadyPhoenix said:

Thunderbirds were not flightless, so I don't know how this study determines anything about those.  These were, in legend, large flying raptors. How likely t be real?  Well, that depends on who you ask.  Way back when I was in high school, we lived in Texas.  One summer's vacation was to several places, a couple of coastal ones and a place called Alamo Village, set out "in the middle of nowhere.  On a road that, as best I can recall, led to that location, we were paused for a bit by a number of common turkey vultures, collected near the road, with a few on the road.  The birds were there after some dead animal.  One was quite a bit larger than the rest  A lot larger.  Most were of the usual size, but this bad boy was ginormous.  He could look into the car, from a position standing on the road.  Far taller that way than the rest, and his wingspan was amazing.  The road was not paved, and was wide enough for two cars to pass one another, carefully.  Partly spread out, this bird's wings went past the edges, on both sides, of the road.  The span had to have been a good fifteen feet or more.  We didn't see them fully extended, but were amazed at the size.  At the time, we just wrote it off as a sort of "things really do get bigger in Texas" sort of circumstance, and went on our way.  Many years later, recalling this bird, I wanted to look up the biggest such vulture known.  The world's largest, the Andean condor, doesn't get anywhere near that large.  I've seen those up close, in zoos, and they don't stand that tall, either.  Besides, in appearance, other than size, the one we saw looked just like any other turkey vulture.  It seems clear to me that they can get bigger than what is the "accepted" size.

[LadyPhoenix]

On 3/25/2023 at 5:10 AM, Abramelin said:

Yeah, that's a nice size comparison chart!  Hard to say how close the one we saw was to that, but it was one big vulture!  I see no reason that various known sort can't simply get a lot bigger.  That's been known to happen with other animals.