The fossil of a seabird called Pelagornis sandersi was found over 30 years ago near Charleston, South Carolina during excavations for a new airport terminal. Dan Ksepka, a paleontologist, has been studying the fossil for years and his findings are being published in a well-known scientific journal this week.
Pelagornis sandersi lived 25 to 28 million years ago, but it was only recently discovered that the extinct bird boasted a wingspan between 20 and 24 feet, the largest ever, dwarfing the current living leader, the wandering albatross, who has a 12-foot wingspan. The ancient bird also sported bony teeth and long jaws that helped them catch fish right out of the water.
The immense bird belonged to the prehistoric pelagornithid family of large seabirds that went extinct three million years ago. This group of birds lived on every continent in the world and was the dominant seabirds in most oceans, but their cause of extinction remains a mystery. Pelagornithids typically possessed wingspans between 15-20 feet, now believing to exceed the size of the previous prehistoric champion, Argentavis magnificens.
"Anyone with a beating heart would have been struck with awe," said Kespeka, who is the Curator of Science at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich Connecticut, in this Reuters news article. "This bird would have just blotted out the sun as it swooped overhead. Up close, it may have called to mind a dragon."
Kspeka's study, "Flight Performance of the Largest Volant Bird," will be published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. After extrapolating the mass, wingspan, and wing shape of the fossilized bird, Ksepka put all relevant statistics into a computer simulation to find more answers. The computer model estimated Pelagornis sandersi's wingspan at 6.4 meters (21 feet) and showed that it was an efficient glider, rarely needing to flap its wings to cover ground. The abstract of the study reads, "Modeled flight properties indicate that lift:drag ratios and glide ratios for P. sandersi were near the upper limit observed in extant birds."
The computer simulation compared P. sanderi's bone sizes and proportions to modern birds so it could estimate its size and mass. However, the prehistoric bird wasn't perfect, despite its newly renowned status. Its short, stumpy legs suggest it was a slow ground bird, needing the aid of a cliff edge or a short run with the wind to take off from the ground. And the computer estimations are already being questioned by others in the field. Nonetheless, we'll find out more about the extinct seabird this week when Ksepka's research is published.
You can read more about Pelagornis sandersi in this Guardian news article.
