A team of paleontologists has announced that they have identified the remains of an ancient species of vulture that once flew over Australia. Based on the analysis of their fossils, these birds of prey may have been heavy and powerful enough to capture large prey. Study details have been published in Ornithology Journal.
The new species, named Dynatoaetus gaffae (or Great Dry Vulture), described from fossils discovered between 1959 and 2021 in a cave seventeen meters deep in the state of South Australia. The bones, which include the bones of the wings, legs, claws, breastbone, and skull, indicate that birds of prey may have had scale claws. thirty centimeters The wingspan is about three metresmake it The largest bird of prey ever recorded in the Australian region.
« Between 50,000 and 700,000 years ago, it may have also been the largest eagle on the planetadds paleontologist Trevor Worthy, of Flinders University in Australia.
At the time, Australia was full of other large creatures, including giant kangaroos (Procoptodon sp.), huge monitor lizards (ancient lizard) and bear-like marsupials (Diprotodon selects). The researchers think so Dr It could have attacked juveniles or sick individuals of these different giant species.
On the other hand, Dr It has a similar body shape to living vultures of the genus Spilornis. There are currently six species in Asia. The largest of these, the Philippine vulture (Pithecophaga jefferyi), feeds on monkeys and lemurs, as well as pigs and young deer.
Only two known species of extinct eagles were larger than Dr : Gigantohirax Suarezwho hunted giant rodents in Cuba and Haast’s eagle.
This ancient, extinct giant grabbed its living victims and stabbed them with its razor-sharp talons and beak at the level of present-day New Zealand, before plunging its mouth inside the carcass as modern vultures do. Its size was commensurate with the size of the moa, its main prey. Note also that these two species apparently disappeared at the same time during the 15th century due to human predation of vultures, which would have finally doomed vultures by depriving them of their main food source.
Finally, remember that Dr It is not the only ancient vulture discovered in Australia in recent years. Two years ago, it was a team of paleontologists already selected Remains of one of the oldest types of eagles in history. The animal, called Archaehierax sylvestris, evolved around it 25 million years And you may be feeding on large koalas.
