The Story
“Antarctica’s Terror Bird Was an Apex Predator of the Eocene Epoch”
https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/antarcticas-terror-bird-was-an-apex-predator-of-the-eocene-epoch
by María de los Ángeles Orfila
Discover, April 26, 2024
The Pitch
In a time when South America was a secluded landmass, unbridged by Central America, and Antarctica bore forests under a warm climate, the region harbored a vastly different ecosystem. The “terror birds,” formidable avian predators without any present-day equivalents, dominated this ancient landscape.
Primarily found in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, these birds boasted impressive sizes, some reaching lengths of 10 feet. Characterized by their large skulls, elongated legs, and sharply hooked beaks designed for stabbing the flesh, these predominantly flightless birds reigned supreme, with the well-known species Llallawavis scagliai—standing 4 feet tall and weighing 40-pound—thriving in southern Argentina around 3.5 million years ago. Around 18 species are known so far, although some are under debate, such as one discovered in Algeria. We can say that terror birds are almost exclusively South American.
However, a discovery has recently emerged from collaborative research between Argentina and Uruguay, unveiling a 220-pound predatory bird that lived in Antarctica during the Eocene, around 50 million years ago, preceding the period of splendor of the terror birds. These were times when the Antarctic Peninsula and southern South America were connected by the Weddellian Isthmus.
This discovery was unearthed near the Argentine Antarctic base Marambio on Seymour Island, marking the first such find on the white continent. Published by the Paleontological Association, this revelation challenges the perceived dominance timeline of terror birds in the Southern Cone and suggests the existence of these birds earlier than previously documented.
Washington Jones, curator of the bird collection at the National Museum of Natural History of Uruguay and one of the study’s leading authors, proposes the potential of a previously unknown evolutionary lineage parallel to the terror birds. This theory complicates and enriches our understanding of their history, hinting at a narrative far more complex and ancient than once believed.
This story seeks to shed light on its physical characteristics, diet, habitat, and how it differs from other terror birds previously described by scientists, who have described them as “fantastic birds” that used their beaks like axes to kill their prey.