The Antarctic fossil could have been the largest bird ever, scientists say

Scientists recently revealed details on fossils found in the 1980s and speak of a predator that may have been the largest flying bird of its time.

What is happening?

Scientists from the University of California Riverside traveled to Seymour Island in the Antarctic Peninsula in the 1980s. They discovered a slew of fossils there.

More information about birds:

The fossils belonged to a group of predators called pelagornites, which lived about 60 million years ago.

• The predators were “bony-toothed” birds that had sharp teeth and long beaks.
• The birds had a wingspan of 21 feet.

One of the fossils was the largest of the entire group of extinct birds, and another was just as large if not larger than the group, according to CNN.

• “These Antarctic fossils … probably represent not only the largest flying birds in the Eocene, but also some of the largest flying birds that ever lived,” the study said, according to CNN.

Because matter

Paleontologists have long found fossils of birds from around the world. But this new finding suggests that “these birds rapidly diversified over a range of sizes within six million years of their origin,” according to Smithsonian Magazine.

The existence of these birds also raises questions as to whether even larger birds existed out there millions of years ago.