Enamel marks counsel 'terror fowl' was killed by reptile 13 million years in the past

[ad_1] Victoria Gill Science correspondent, BBC Information

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/e65c/live/090ab310-670c-11f0-86bc-f75ca3f46b17.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/e65c/live/090ab310-670c-11f0-86bc-f75ca3f46b17.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/e65c/live/090ab310-670c-11f0-86bc-f75ca3f46b17.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/e65c/live/090ab310-670c-11f0-86bc-f75ca3f46b17.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/e65c/live/090ab310-670c-11f0-86bc-f75ca3f46b17.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/e65c/live/090ab310-670c-11f0-86bc-f75ca3f46b17.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/e65c/live/090ab310-670c-11f0-86bc-f75ca3f46b17.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/e65c/live/090ab310-670c-11f0-86bc-f75ca3f46b17.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Link et al/Biology Letters The image shows an artist's impression of a terror bird being attacked by a caiman, a large crocodile-like predator. The caiman is emerging from a river and grabbing the panicked bird by its leg. This depicts a scene that scientists believe could have taken place 13 million years ago in Colombia. " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Hyperlink et al/Biology Letters The researchers say the phobia fowl didn't survive the encounter

Enamel marks made on the leg bone of a big avian reptile often called a terror fowl 13 million years in the past counsel a fair greater predator could have killed it, scientists say.

Terror birds have been high predators - they could possibly be taller than a human and had highly effective legs and hooked, flesh-ripping beaks.

Palaeontologists in Colombia matched enamel marks on the fossilised leg bone of considered one of these fearsome birds to a caiman, or a crocodile-like reptile.

3D digital scans of the bites allowed the scientists to reconstruct what they imagine was a "battle to the loss of life" that the phobia fowl didn't survive.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/3081/live/9452a230-670b-11f0-86bc-f75ca3f46b17.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/3081/live/9452a230-670b-11f0-86bc-f75ca3f46b17.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3081/live/9452a230-670b-11f0-86bc-f75ca3f46b17.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/3081/live/9452a230-670b-11f0-86bc-f75ca3f46b17.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/3081/live/9452a230-670b-11f0-86bc-f75ca3f46b17.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/3081/live/9452a230-670b-11f0-86bc-f75ca3f46b17.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/3081/live/9452a230-670b-11f0-86bc-f75ca3f46b17.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3081/live/9452a230-670b-11f0-86bc-f75ca3f46b17.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Link et al/Biology Letters The image shows the digital scan of a crocodile skull biting into a small leg bone. The bone that is being bitten into is based on a 3D scan of the 13 million year old fossilised bone from a terror bird. " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Hyperlink et al/Biology Letters The researchers scanned the enamel marks within the leg bone and in contrast it with skulls and enamel of crocodile-like predators

The brand new research, printed within the journal Biology Letters, in contrast the scale and form of the enamel marks to the skulls and enamel of crocodile-like predators in museum collections.

It gives uncommon proof, the researchers say, of an interplay between two extinct high predators on the time.

The leg bone the scientists studied was first unearthed greater than 15 years in the past in Colombia's Tatacoa Desert.

When the fowl lived within the swamps of that space 13 million years in the past, it might have been about 2.5m tall and would have used its legs and beak to carry down and rip at its prey.

What the scientists are usually not capable of show conclusively is whether or not this specific, unlucky terror fowl was killed within the assault, or if the caiman scavenged its stays.

"There isn't any signal of therapeutic within the chew marks on the bone," defined lead researcher Andres Hyperlink from the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia.

"So if it wasn't already lifeless, it died within the assault. That was the final day that fowl was on this planet - then a chunk of its leg bone was discovered 13 million years later."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/a8d5/live/6e3a6eb0-6716-11f0-8139-991899391ed8.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/a8d5/live/6e3a6eb0-6716-11f0-8139-991899391ed8.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a8d5/live/6e3a6eb0-6716-11f0-8139-991899391ed8.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/a8d5/live/6e3a6eb0-6716-11f0-8139-991899391ed8.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/a8d5/live/6e3a6eb0-6716-11f0-8139-991899391ed8.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/a8d5/live/6e3a6eb0-6716-11f0-8139-991899391ed8.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/a8d5/live/6e3a6eb0-6716-11f0-8139-991899391ed8.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a8d5/live/6e3a6eb0-6716-11f0-8139-991899391ed8.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Andres Link The image shows a chunk of fossilised bone from a terror bird's leg. There are two holes visible in the bone - puncture marks left by the teeth of a predatory reptile. " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Andres Hyperlink The enamel marks are clearly seen on the piece of leg bone

The Tatacoa Desert is residence to wealthy deposits of fossils from an epoch often called the Center Miocene.

At the moment, it was a moist swamp, the place river sediments trapped and fossilised the bones of lifeless animals, ensuing within the preserved stays discovered there immediately.

This specific bone was first found about 15 years in the past by native fossil collector César Augusto Perdomo.

The Colombian scientists labored carefully with Mr Perdomo, finding out and cataloging fossils that he has gathered in his museum. It was when scientists have been working within the museum that they realised that this fist-sized piece of leg bone got here from a terror fowl.

That was an thrilling discovery - terror fowl fossils are uncommon. However Dr Hyperlink and his colleagues have been additionally fascinated by the puncture marks within the bone, which had clearly been made by the enamel of one other highly effective predator.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/78df/live/d98ea0f0-6716-11f0-8139-991899391ed8.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/78df/live/d98ea0f0-6716-11f0-8139-991899391ed8.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/78df/live/d98ea0f0-6716-11f0-8139-991899391ed8.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/78df/live/d98ea0f0-6716-11f0-8139-991899391ed8.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/78df/live/d98ea0f0-6716-11f0-8139-991899391ed8.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/78df/live/d98ea0f0-6716-11f0-8139-991899391ed8.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/78df/live/d98ea0f0-6716-11f0-8139-991899391ed8.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/78df/live/d98ea0f0-6716-11f0-8139-991899391ed8.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Andres Link The image shows a fossil collector at a dusty site in Colombia. The man wears a red shirt and a wide-brimmed hat to protect him from the sun. His feet are bare and he is examining the ground carefully for fossils. " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Andres Hyperlink César Augusto Perdomo has been gathering fossils since he was a toddler

This new evaluation of the marks revealed that they most carefully match an extinct caiman species known as Purussaurus neivensis, a crocodilian that might have been as much as 5 metres lengthy.

The researchers say it might have ambushed its prey from the water's edge, very like crocodiles and caimans do immediately.

"I'd think about it was ready for prey to be close by," stated Dr Hyperlink.

If this was certainly a battle between two apex predators, Dr Hyperlink says that gives perception into an historic ecosystem. It reveals that ferocious terror birds have been rather more susceptible to predators than beforehand thought.