Diatrima, a terrible giant bird, was not a predator- VIDEO
Saturday, 24 November 2012 19:19
In the Palaeontology magazine appeared an article of a group of scientists from the University of Western Washington, the United States, led by George Mustoe and David Tucker, that terrible giant bird Diatrima was not a predator, but was a "quiet herbivore." Giant bird Diatrima lived about 50 million years ago among the sub-tropical forests of North America. As reported by George Mustoe and David Tucker, previously believed, that with two meters tall and powerful beak, a bird Diatrima replace a dinosaurs in the food chain after their extinction, but new data suggest, that this bird was herbivorous, did not a predator. In particular, the analysis of footprints of Diatrima, which were found in a block of sandstone Chuckanut Formation, left about 55,8-48,6 million years ago, shows, that the bird Diatrima had a very small claws, more similar to the nails, which is not common in birds of prey, which require powerful claws, as leg length of this bird does not allow it to develop a high speed. It is therefore very likely, that the bird Diatrima used its huge beak did not for capture of prey, but to collect the fruits and seeds of subtropical forests, THE VIDEO:
http://hainanwel.com/en/unusual-world/2 ... trima.html