A massive caiman, estimated to be over 30 feet long, killed the largest terror bird ever discovered 12 million years ago. The fossilized leg bone of the terror bird was identified after almost 20 years and suggests the bird weighed around 340 pounds (156 kilograms) and stood over 9 feet tall.
Researchers used a portable scanner to examine the fossil and found deep puncture wounds left by the caiman’s attack. They believe the terror bird would have died from its injuries given the size of crocodilians at that time.
Terror birds, also known as Phorusrhacids, were large predatory flightless birds that hunted smaller animals by driving their beak into prey with strong neck muscles. The discovery in Colombia provides a new understanding of the La Venta area’s ecology during the Miocene epoch (23 million to 5 million years ago).
The landscape of La Venta was lush and diverse, with “meandering rivers” and various species such as primates, hoofed mammals, giant ground sloths, and ancient armadillos. The find sheds light on the development of large forms in certain animal groups during this time.
Modern scanning technology allowed for the fossil to be re-examined and identified as belonging to a terror bird after initially being found nearly 20 years ago.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/animals/extinct-species/a-giant-crocodilian-killed-the-largest-terror-bird-ever-found-12-million-years-ago