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The find also provides a new understanding of the entire ecology of the La Venta area during the Miocene epoch (23 million to 5 million years ago).
3D scans of the fossilized leg bone revealed puncture wounds from the teeth of an ancient caiman. (Image credit: Degrange et al.)
Most other terror bird fossils have been found in Patagonia, a more temperate environment at the time. But this terror bird, found in Colombia, would have been an apex predator in a tropical environment. The landscape of La Venta was lush with “meandering rivers,” the statement noted, and would have been rich with diverse species. The bird would have shared the land with primates, hoofed mammals, giant ground sloths and ancient relatives of armadillos known as glyptodonts.
“During this time we witnessed the development of large forms (much larger than those alive today) in certain groups of animals — crocodiles, snakes, some bird groups — in La Venta and elsewhere in South America,” Luis Chiappe, the senior ice president of research and collections for the National History Museum of Los Angeles County who was not involved with the study, told Live Science in an email.
The fossil was initially found nearly 20 years ago, but wasn’t initially pegged as belonging to a terror bird. Modern scanning and diagnostic technology allowed for the fossil to be re-examined and identified. “It’s possible there are fossils in existing collections that haven’t been recognized yet as terror birds because the bones are less diagnostic than the lower leg bone we found,” Cooke said.
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Publish date : 2024-11-06 02:28:00
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