Phorusrhacos longissimus

Phorusrhacos, terror bird (Phorusrhacos (Ameghino, 1887))

 

Class: Aves

Order: Cariamiformes

Family: Phorusrhacidae

Time period: lived in the Miocene, some 20-13 million years ago (South America)

Size: 250 cm in height, ∼130 kg of weight

Typical representative: †Phorusrhacos longissimus

 

Phorusrhacos is an extinct genus of giant flightless terror birds that inhabited South America during the Miocene epoch. This birds was one of the dominant land predators in continent at the time it existed. It is thought to have lived in woodlands and grasslands.

Phorusrhacos had a skull nearly 65 centimetres long, stood nearly 2.5  meters tall, and probably weighed nearly 130 kilograms, as much as a male ostrich. It had very strong legs, capable of running at high speed, stubby, flightless wings, a long neck, and a proportionately large head. This ended in a huge, hooked beak that could tear through flesh easily, or stab into prey. The lower jaw was smaller than the upper jaw. 

Phorusrhacos dispersed into North America during the Great American Biotic Interchange (∼3 Ma).