Palaeontology

Giant half-ton bird lived alongside early man

By T.K. Randall
June 27, 2019 ·  22 comments

Pachystruthio dmanisensis was truly enormous. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 2.0 markow76 The fossil, which was discovered along the northern coast of the Black Sea, dates back between 1.5 and 1.8 million years to a time when Homo erectus roamed the European continent.

Known as Pachystruthio dmanisensis, this gargantuan flightless bird was three times the weight of today's ostriches, stood 3.5 meters tall and could run at quite significant speeds.

It would have provided our ancestors with a plentiful supply of meat, bones, feathers and eggshells."No birds of this size have ever been reported from Europe," said palaeontologist Nikita Zelenkov from the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"We don't know when it became extinct exactly, but most likely it did not survive later than 1.2 million years ago. They would have been seen by various Homo erectus people."

Very pleased that the genus of this newly discovered giant bird means ‘thick ostrich' https://t.co/uRsHbevnoq pic.twitter.com/31TIvKWQWr

— Ol' Bertie Dastard (@Microlambert) June 27, 2019

Source: The Guardian | Comments (22)

Tags: Bird