In 1983 the fossil remains of the largest flying bird in history were discovered. Its description made it even larger than Argentavis magnificens , until then the largest bird. So large is the species that it has generated debate and new perspectives about the maximum wingspan with which birds could fly.
a giant in the sky
Pelagornis is an extinct genus of seabirds that lived around the planet from 25 million years ago to about 2.5 million years ago. Its characteristics include the bony projections of the beak in the form of teeth, its large size and wings whose evolutionary modifications have raised many doubts about its performance when flying. This genus was described in 1857 by the French paleontologist Édouard Lartet and is made up of four species: Pelagornis chilensis , P. mauretanicus , P. miocaenus and P. sandersi .
Of the four, Pelagornis sandersi is the largest species, with wings that reached a wingspan of between 6 and 7 meters . This makes it the largest bird in history. It exceeds the measurements of Argentavis magnificens , estimated at 4 meters, and the wingspan of P. sandersi would be twice as large as that of the albatross, the largest flying bird of our days.
Pelagornis sandersi lived between 25 and 28 million years ago. It is believed that it could inhabit the marine areas of the entire planet, but we need more fossil evidence to confirm this theory. It was an animal with short and robust legs, with wings disproportionately large to its body, perhaps as a feature that allowed it to fly. There is debate about the mode of flight that P. sandersi had , and about the method to take off that it would need given its enormous size: could it take flight only by jumping with its legs from a static position? Or did he need to jump off cliffs to take advantage of air currents? Researchers attribute a similar flight system to current seabirds, such as the aforementioned albatross. Therefore, Pelagornis sandersi must have been a specialist in gliding for long distances in search of fish with which to feed with just a few flaps of the wings. It is estimated that it could fly at about 60 kilometers per hour, always taking advantage of the air currents that are generated over the sea.
There is talk of the striking teeth that these species had in their beak. Technically they are not teeth, but formations of the beak’s own bone morphology, which presents this saw-shaped structure. According to Daniel Ksepka:
“This is a remarkable fossil, almost like something out of ‘Game of Thrones.’ Its mouth was full of bony spines that gave it the menacing look of a dragon.”
From a work to the museum
Fossil remains of Pelagornis sandersi were discovered in 1983 during construction of a new terminal at Charleston International Airport in South Carolina . About 25 million years ago, the place where planes land today was a seabed. For this reason, other fossil remains have been found in the site belonging to prehistoric rays and a toothed whale.
Remains of the skull, shoulder blade, legs and wings were found, which had hollow bones, in order to lighten the weight so that a huge skeleton like this could fly. However, the fossil remained in storage at the Charleston Museum until 2014. It was Dan Ksepka , then in the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at North Carolina State University, who was commissioned to study and describe the remains of which turned out to be the largest bird we know of.
The results of the description were published in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” (PNAS), and the species was named Pelagornis sandersi in honor of Albert Sanders , who was in charge of the natural history collection at the Charleston Museum. and he led the expedition that discovered the fossil in 1983. Sanders himself was the one who invited Ksepka to examine the fossil remains that are still preserved in the same museum, although, now, officially described and identified.
The fossil does not present breaks or visible marks that could lead to think of a violent death. Rather, it is suspected that bad wind conditions could have caused this animal to become trapped without being able to take flight again.
How could this huge animal fly?
In fact this is one of the most controversial attributes of Pelagornis sandersi : its flight. The researchers were surprised that these birds could fly with a 7-meter wingspan and a weight that could range from 22 to 40 kilos. The winds must have been fundamental allies for its movement through the air and Ksepka believes that the key may be in its enormous wings, disproportionate in relation to the size of the body .
However, Palegornis sandersi was the largest flying bird we know of, but it is not the largest flying animal. Quetzalcoatlus was a flying reptile with a wingspan of 10 to 13 meters . Therefore, we are dealing with species that challenge the known limits in terms of size and flight capacity. That is why Kspeka does not rule out the possibility of finding even larger P. sandersi fossils.
References:
Feltman, R. 2014. A newly declared species may be the largest flying bird to ever live. washingtonpost.com.
Ksepka, D. 2014. Flight performance of the largest volant bird. PNAS 111, 29, 10624-10629. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.132029711.
