'Terror bird' was prize fighter, page

The 'Terror Bird' a not so mythical beast! Although it is believed that humans never came into contact with this predator, it was a very real terror for other species of it's time.

The giant, flightless beasts that roamed South America for more than 50 million years following the demise of the dinosaurs were fearsome predators.

New research shows the birds' huge beaks could deliver swift and powerful pecks, very probably killing their victims in one blow before ripping the flesh from their bodies.

"They had the full kit," said palaeoscientist Steve Wroe.

"These birds had enormous beaks with big hooks on the end. But we've shown they had to use those beaks with some precision and caution," Dr Wroe, a researcher from the University of Sydney, Australia, told BBC News.

An unmistakable descended from the dinosaurs and just another fine example of the evolutionary process in action. Below is an excellent animation of the terror bird in action.



Below is a section of the article discussing the strength of the Terror Bird's beak. It also suggests that this bird made a series of successive jabs to attack it's prey much like a boxer would. It is believed that the beak was not suited for the grabbing and shaking of prey, which we would associate more with it's prehistoric counterparts the dinosaurs.

The team scanned the skull to picture its internal architecture and then applied an engineering technique known as finite element analysis (FEA) to assess its capabilities.

When coupled with the pictures in the BBC this animation below gives a good indication of how this monstrous beak was operated.



Original Article;

www.bbc.co.uk...

Related Content;

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reply to post by Big Raging Loner

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Yeah, I am not really sure people want to talk about these kind of things on ATS. Try spitting in someone's eye, metaphorically speaking and you will get 300 posts in ten minutes flat.

Talk about a terror bird? Not so much. I only noticed your thread as I attempted to post it myself. I feel for ya.

On topic, this sort of find really illustrates how far along technologies have come in detecting bone structure and the living habits of long dead animals.

Now adays every time I am outside and see a bird I just think to myself there goes another evolved dinosaur.

Well, at least you didn't have to talk to yourself on this thread.

reply to post by GideonHM

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Ha ha well I appreciate it. You're probably right, the controversial topics are usually the hottest. I have to say the technology used in bringing these creatures to life is amazing. There was a documentary made a while ago that showed what the elephant man would have looked like without the severe deformity using CGI, is was nothing short of brilliant.

reply to post by GideonHM

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Double post. Suppose I should add, I'll have to return the favour sometime.

Cheers

[edit on 19-8-2010 by Big Raging Loner]

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