The Largest Bird in Earth's History (8 photos)

A bird that was larger than the two largest modern flying birds combined.





How big can a flying bird be? Judging by living birds, it's quite impressive—the wandering albatross has a wingspan of over 3 meters! But if we dig deeper, we'll discover a true titan among fossil birds, with a wingspan twice that size—Pelagornis.

Pelagornis is an entire genus of birds that became extinct only recently, just 2.5 million years ago. Initially, the bird was described based on just one humerus, but that alone made a huge impression—it was almost as long as a human arm! And in the 1980s, American paleontologists discovered perfectly preserved wing bones, which made it easy to calculate the monstrous bird's total wingspan—6.4 meters.



Pelagornis was larger than the two largest modern flying birds combined.





With such wings, active flapping flight requires a tremendous amount of energy, so the bird preferred to soar on rising ocean currents, like a giant living paraglider. In this, it was similar to other seabirds, except that it weighed 40 kilograms instead of 5-10. It's even stranger to realize that the Pelagornis's closest living relatives are not petrels or gulls, but ducks and chickens.



And in this reconstruction, it looks like an XXL goose.

However, to be honest, these are very distant relatives. Pelagornnis were the last branch of an ancient family of pseudotoothed birds, which grew long, sharp keratin teeth on their beaks. Unlike true teeth, these were relatively fragile and could not grow or be replaced by new ones, as in reptiles. However, pseudoteeth were lighter and did not require the powerful jaws of mammals. And birds also didn't suffer from cavities or toothaches, which we can only envy!



The sharp pseudoteeth clearly made it easier for the flying titans to catch fish, but the hunting technique itself is unknown. Apparently, the birds snatched fish directly from the surface, rather than diving into the depths to retrieve them, as taking off from the water with such a large size is a highly complex task.





However, feeding in this style required remarkable skill and a great deal of time. Therefore, when the ecosystem collapsed once again (and it collapses more often than you might imagine), the Pelagornis simply couldn't feed themselves and disappeared, leaving behind only fossilized bones—a trace of their former glory.



This is what the best-preserved skull of a giant bird looks like.