2-Million-Year-Old Fossil of a 'Super Ostrich' Almost the Size of a Polar Bear Amazes Researchers

Extinct animals provide researchers with an understanding of the biodiversity prevalent in yesteryears. In 2019, researchers unearthed the remains of an animal that provided them more insights into the history of birds, stated Live Science. Findings regarding these fossils have been published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

The discovery happened in the form of a fossil femur placed in Crimea. Examinations revealed that the fossil belonged to a massive bird that lived around two million years ago and was close to the size of a Polar Bear. The bird was named  Pachystruthio dmanisensis by the scientists. The study claimed that the bird was 11 feet in height and weighed close to 990 pounds (450 kilograms). This makes the Pachystruthio dmanisensis one of the heaviest-known birds of all time.

The remains were excavated from the Taurida cave network, which was discovered a year prior during the construction of a new highway. Researchers quickly found some resemblance between the bone and an ostrich's femur. Further analysis indicated that the discovered bone was much more rigid. The bone's shaft circumference helped experts in figuring out the bird's weight. 

Researchers had already been aware of the existence of these birds. Evidence of massive avians has been collected from Australia, New Zealand, and Madagascar. Based on the available data, experts thought that extinct ostrich-like birds inhabited Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Georgia, and Hungary. However, the fossil from Crimea challenged this assertion and revealed that huge flightless birds existed in Europe during the Pleistocene epoch (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago).

The fossil made experts claim that the species existed during the Pliocene. "The lineage to which Pachystruthio belonged most probably first appeared in the Pliocene [2.6 million to 5.3 million years ago] of Turkey or adjacent regions," said lead study author, Nikita Zelenkov, a paleontologist with the Russian Academy of Sciences. Researchers claim that the extinct bird lived with multiple carnivorous animals like saber-toothed cats belonging to the genus Homotherium and Megantereon, giant cheetahs, and giant hyenas. Experts believe the giant bird faced no imminent danger in such habitats because their humongous structure discouraged small predators from attacking. Moreover, past studies have proven that bigger animals can survive on low nutrition, and therefore resource competition also wasn't a fatal factor.

Experts also think that the humongous size was one of the adaptations, the bird had undertaken to take advantage of the massive landscape. These birds also possibly lived in the region, when it was overtaken by the glacial period. Archaeologists have already found fossils of animals like deer, bison, dogs, horses, and camels dating back to that glacial period. The remains of the huge bird indicate that these giant birds were also part of the ice age ecosystem along with the animals. Researchers are hopeful that fossil evidence like the bone can illuminate more about how that ecosystem functioned- the relationship of such birds with the surrounding animals as well as the humans who possibly wanted to hunt them. "There may be much more the site will teach us about Europe's distant past," Zelenkov shared.