Terror Bird May Have Been Killed By Even Bigger Creature 13 Million Years Ago, Bite Marks Suggest

Standing astir 10 feet tall, weighing astir 220 pounds and pinch an axe-like beak tin of delivering devastating strikes, the panic bird would person proved a formidable foe for astir creatures.

But astir 13 cardinal years ago, 1 of them whitethorn person fallen prey to an moreover larger creature, a squad of paleontologists successful Colombia person discovered aft examining wound marks successful a fossilized bony of 1 of nan fearsome birds.

Publishing their findings successful nan peer-reviewed technological diary “Biology Letters,” nan squad hypothesized that it was killed and eaten aliases consumed done scavenging by a mean sized caiman, a crocodile-like reptile.

“This is simply a fascinating communicative of nan relationship of 2 very iconic animals successful nan past,” Andrés Link, nan study’s lead author, told NBC News successful an email Wednesday. “We really recovered not only nan first grounds of a panic vertebrate successful bluish southbound America, but nan bony marks of a ample caiman that has astir apt fed connected it,” he added.

Terror vertebrate fossils, which are rare, person mostly been identified successful the confederate portion of nan continent.

While bony marks are “not uncommon” successful nan fossil record, it’s “exciting” to find grounds that indicates an apex predator being hunted aliases scavenged by another, said Link, an subordinate professor of biologic sciences astatine nan Los Andes University successful Colombia.

Writing successful “Biology Letters,” nan squad said nan teeth marks showed nary signs of healing, suggesting that nan onslaught was fatal.

Based connected nan finding, they added that panic birds mightiness person faced higher consequence of being killed and eaten than antecedently expected.

Julian Bayona Becerra / Biology Letters

To place nan attacker, Link and his squad scanned nan fossil and analyzed nan size, style and spacing of nan bony marks. After comparing those marks pinch teeth of crocodyliforms from nan region, they concluded that nan trace shaper was apt a juvenile caiman astir 15 feet long.

It remains “very difficult” to cognize if nan caiman ate nan panic vertebrate aft sidesplitting it aliases whether it scavenged nan carcass, Link said. If nan vertebrate was alive, it was apt attacked while drinking astatine a river, researchers wrote, and conversely, if it was dead, nan caiman recovered and fed connected its assemblage adjacent water.

“This communicative will not beryllium told wholly arsenic we person nary further grounds to take betwixt these 2 hypotheses.” Link said.

The find challenges nan presumption of “a linear narration betwixt predators feeding connected herbivores feeding successful plants,” he added. “The nutrient web is really overmuch much complex.”

The little portion of nan bird’s near limb bony utilized successful nan study was unearthed successful nan renowned La Venta fossil beds of Colombia 2 decades agone by Cesar Perdomo, a section paleontologist.