Argentavis magnificens
| Argentavis | ||||||||||
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||
| Miocene | ||||||||||
| 8 to 5 million years | ||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Argentavis | ||||||||||
| Campbell & Tonni , 1980 |
Argentavis magnificens is an extinct bird thatresembledtoday's vultures . He livedin South Americain the late Miocene (5-8 million years ago). As far as we know, it is one of the largest airborne birds that ever lived. Only Pelagornis sandersi was just as big or slightly larger.
description
Argentavis magnificens , like all members of the family, outwardly resembled a vulture . The bird was about 1.5 m high when standing, the wingspan was 7–7.5 meters, the weight about 72 kg. The beak was similar to that of today's birds of prey , but with a length of about 28 cm it was about four times as large as that of the largest species of birds of prey living today.
Among the recent birds, the wandering albatross has the largest wingspan with up to 3.5 m, followed by the condor with a little more than 3 meters. The heaviest birds capable of flying today weigh up to 20 kg such as B. the giant bustards .
Way of life
From the size and structure of the wings one can conclude that Argentavis magnificens , like today's vultures, was a glider pilot who only rarely used active wing flaps. The creation of this giant was probably only possible due to the constant and very strong westerly winds in southern South America, which enabled it to soar and fly with very little energy. Presumably, like the rest of the family, he fed on the mammals of the South American steppes and savannahs as a scavenger .
The hypothesis put forward by Campbell & Tonni (1983) that A. magnificens preyed on live prey the size of rabbits and did not live primarily on carrion was rejected by Feduccia (1996).
Birds of prey that feed on agile smaller mammals cannot grow into giant forms because that size is incompatible with the agility necessary to hunt such mammals. This is particularly true for the gigantic A. magnificens , which with a high degree of probability could only lift off the ground thanks to the strong westerly winds. The huge beak would be unnecessarily large for the consumption of small mammals , but it is a good adaptation to the use of large amounts of carrion in a short time.
Fossil documentation
Argentavis magnificens has only been found once in late Miocene deposits in what is now Argentina (37 ° S). However, other sources indicate four finds in Argentina: 1. & 2. Andalhuala Formation, near Catamarca in Valle de Santa Maria, foothills of the Andes 3. Epecuen Formation, Carhué 4. Salinas Grandes de Hidalgo in the Argentine pampas .
Systematics
The species is assigned to the family Teratornithidae .
literature
- KE Campbell Jr., EP Tonni: Size and locomotion in teratorns (Aves: Teratornithidae). in: The Auk. Washington DC 100.1983, 390-403. ISSN 0004-8038 ( PDF full text )
- A. Feduccia: The origin and evolution of birds. Yale University Press, New Haven / London 1996. ISBN 0-300-06460-8
Web links
- Newspaper clipping on Photobucket
- "¿Hay un límite para el tamaño corporal en las aves voladoras?" , (in Spanish = "There is a limit to the height of birds in flight"), Sergio F. Vizcaíno, Paul Palquist, Richard A. Fariña, "Encuentros en la Biología" No. 64, Faculty of Science of the University of Malaga, May 2000, ISSN 1134-8496
