Move over , Big Bird . There ’s a new feather giant in town , and this one can actually fly .
Well , it could pilot when it was live . Pelagornis sandersi(Pelagornis S.for unretentive ) has been dead for about 25 million years , but we only just discover its remains [ PDF ] .
Fossilized bones from this giant sea hoot were in the first place discovered in South Carolina in 1983 when workers were excavating to create a new terminal for the Charleston International Airport ( during the snort ’s life , Charleston would have been submerged under 33 invertebrate foot of piddle ) . But the bird was n’t studied until recently when Dr. Daniel Ksepka , the Curator of Science at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich , Conn. , got his hands on it .
" This is push the boundary of what we know about avian size , ” Ksepkasaid , “ and I ’m very positive that the wingspan is the expectant we ’ve seen in a bird capable of flight . "
How large?Pelagornis S.could spread its wing to span about 24 metrical unit . For denotation , that ’s the width of an official FIFA soccer goal from pole to pole . It belongs to a phratry of seabirds called Pelagornithids , which lived all over the world and only became out about three million years ago . These birds were qualify by the bony teeth on the exterior of their snoot , which they used to empale their target — probably ocean collation like eel and squid .
But this doll weigh close to 50 pound . How did it take flight ? Researchers think it had to get a good , long run start like a hang sailplane . Once aloft , its foresightful , sylphlike wings prevented pull and helped it ride hint electric current for extended periods of meter without need to expel energy by beat . " I retrieve they just waited on the beach for a strong wind to carry them aloft,“Ksepka said .
The previous record holder for longest wingspan—23 feet wide — belong to the extinctArgentavis magnificens . This birdie also had to get a track starting line because it was too heavy to take flight from a standstill . Today , the title goes to the royal albatross , which spans just 11.5 feet .
investigator are n’t certain what vote down the Pelagornithids , but they hope to retrieve out . “ Pelagornithids were like creature out of a fantasy novel — there is simply nothing like them around today , ” Ksepka order [ PDF ] .
