Giant birds lived with dinosaurs

A prehistoric toothless jaw bone found in Kazakhstan suggests the Cretaceous period was not a ‘dinosaurs-only theme park’.

Analysis of the fossil – which lay unrecognised in a Kazakh museum for years – came from a bird which could have been as big as a modern day ostrich. Palaeontologists say the bird lived around 85 million years ago. Its skull would have been about 30cm long, and the bird stood between two and three meters tall. If it flew its wingspan would likely have exceeded 4 metres.

“Unfortunately we only have the lower jaw, and that doesn’t provide key information on what the whole bird was like,” said Dr Darren Naish from the University of Portsmouth. “We hope new material will be unearthed to provide us with more information, such as understanding what role it was playing in the Cretaceous ecosystems.”

Until now, it was known that numerous bird species the size of crows and thrushes lived during the ages of the dinosaurs – the Mesozoic era – with the exception of one larger bird. Experts have argued over the identification of the Gargantuavis philoinos – which was found in France in 1998 – but this new finding confirms the presence of giant birds during the Cretaceous period.

“People tend to forget that birds co-existed with their dinosaurian relatives but it now seems that the Cretaceous was not a ‘dinosaurs-only theme park’,” said Naish. “This find confirms that large birds were living alongside dinosaurs and may have been more widespread than previously thought.”

Palaeontologists – who published their findings in Biology Letters – found the fossil in the floodplain environment and have named the new giant land-living bird Samrukia nessovi. It’s not clear if the bird was predatory, herbivorous or omnivorous, but researchers believe it was conceivably in danger from larger predatory dinosaurs.

Biology Letters: http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/