Largest Flying Bird Ever!
July 11, 2014
Fossilized bones stored in a museum basement near Charleston, South Carolina, for some 30 years have been identified as those of the largest known flying bird. Pelagornis sandersi, which lived from 25 to 28 million years ago, had a wingspan of from 20 to 24 feet (6.1 to 7.3 meters)–counting feathers. That made it more than twice as large as the royal albatross, the largest living flying bird. Previously, the record holder was Argentavis magnificens, a condorlike bird that lived in Argentina about 6 million years ago.
P. sandersi belonged to a group of giant seabirds called pelagornithids that once lived everywhere except Antarctica. These birds are known for their pseudoteeth–strange toothlike spikes that lined the upper and lower jaws. The teeth were probably used for catching fish and squid found near the surface of the water. The pelagornithids mysteriously became extinct about 3 million years ago. Paleontologist Daniel Ksepka described pelagornithids as “creatures out of a fantasy novel–there is simply nothing like them around today.”
Using a computer simulations, Ksepka determined that P. sandersi was a wonderfully efficient glider that could soar extreme distances across ocean waters. In fact, he believes, the bird spent most of every year aloft, riding air currents rising from the ocean surface. It probably came ashore only to breed. The bird, which could travel at about 39 miles (63 kilometers) per hour, likely owed its flying abilities to its extremely long wings and short body. Weighing from 48.2 to 88.4 pounds (21.9 to 40.1 kilograms), P. sandersi probably raises the limit on how heavy flying birds can get. Too heavy to lift off by flapping, the bird may have gone airborne by running downhill into a headwind or leaping into the wind from a cliff. With its long wings, it probably looked extremely awkward when walking.
Ksepka named the new bird after Albert Sanders, a curator at the Charleston Museum, who supervised the excavation of the fossils. The bones were found in 1983 during the construction of a new terminal at the Charleston Internation Airport. When P. sandersi was alive, what is now Charleston was covered by ocean water. Ksepka noted that it was remarkable that the bird’s fragile bones, especially its skull, survived its burial on the sea floor.
Additional World Book articles:
- Hang gliding
- Prehistoric animal
- Pterosaur
- Pterodactyls—Flying Marvels of the Mesozoic (a Special Report)