- Fossils of extinct gigantic eagles with 10-foot wingspans were discovered in South Australia.
- The newfound species of enormous eagle is similar to the giant fictional ones in the 'Lord of the Rings.'
- Only two known species of eagles have the same wingspan as the gigantic extinct eagle.
An extinct eagle once roamed in ancient Australia with a massive 10-foot wingspan ruled the skies.
This giant raptor had an enormous wingspan like the fictional ones in the Lord of the Rings that could easily lift small-sized animals.
Ancient Eagle with 10-Foot Massive Wingspan Discovered
This new species, called Gaff's powerful eagle (Dynatoaetus gaffae), was obtained from the collection of fossils from 1959 to 2021 in a 56-foot deep vertical cave found in Southern Australia, reported Live Science.
Checking the fossils made up of bones from the wings, legs, talons, skull, and breastbone shows it was a gigantic bird. According to a new study just published last March 15 in the Journal of Ornithology, researchers say the talons were 12 inches, and the 10-foot wingspan reveals that it is one of the most enormous birds of prey ever found, per Springer Nature.
One study co-author, Trevor Worthy, a vertebrate paleontologist at Flinders University in Australia, stated that the species of eagle lived approximately between 50,000 and 700,000 years ago and was one of the largest birds of prey in that period.
Australia's ancient landscape at the time of Dynatoaetus gaffe had other giants like flightless birds, giant kangaroos, huge monitor lizards, and even equally as giant bear-like marsupials. D. gaffae is considered opportunistic in grabbing small and sick animals of giant fauna, as mentioned by Yahoo.
The prey of D. gaffae is estimated to be as big as western gray kangaroos, which are 4.3 feet tall. They could be as big as hobbits. It was a big bird but dwarfed by the fictional 'Lord of the Rings' eagles with a 75-foot wingspan though bigger than the wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax). They lived alongside each other until the more giant bird of prey died out.
Giant Eagle Species Similar to the Extinct Ancient Eagle
Giant bird is similar to eagles extant today in the genus Spilornis which has six species in Asia. Of the six, the biggest is the Philippine eagle which eats monkeys, lemurs, and bats, even young pigs and deer.
Both D. gaffae and P. jefferyi have powerful legs for their size that enable them to catch heftier prey, stated study lead author Ellen Mather, who is from Flinders University and specializes in paleontology and has authored articles for Australasian Science.
The symmetry of D. gaffae and P. jefferyi with the same hunt adaptation and taste for the same prey is evident that both are hunters in both eras they exist. They have added the research by Flinders specialists in this type of predatory bird species and how evolution continued after D. gaffae died out.
There are two known giant species more prominent than the extinct eagles, which are the Gigantohierax suarezi, which preys on huge Cuban rodents, and the second, Haasts eagle (Hieraaetus moorei) from New Zealand, which ate the organs of its prey head first. They both had 10-foot wingspans, but they were chunkier.
Other discoveries than D. gaffae in Australia shows other giant bird living there. The Archaehierax sylvestris, found in 2021 is not well known and it hunted giant koalas about 25 million years ago.
