Scientists have identified the fossilized remains of an extinct giant that could be the world's biggest-ever flying bird with 20-24-foot wingspan and soaring ability that enabled the creature to stay aloft for long distances without flapping its wings.
The creature has surpassed size estimates based on wing bones from the previous record holder i.e. a long-extinct bird named Argentavis magnificens.
Author Dan Ksepka of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in Durham, North Carolina, said that the upper wing bone alone was longer than his arm.
The strikingly well-preserved specimen consisted of multiple wing and leg bones and a complete skull. Its sheer size and telltale beak allowed Ksepka to identify the find as a previously unknown species of pelagornithid, an extinct group of giant seabirds known for bony tooth-like spikes that lined their upper and lower jaws.
Ksepka, who is now Curator of Science at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich Connecticut, said that was important in the ocean, where food was patchy.
Ksepka's simulations suggested that the bird's long, slender wings made it an incredibly efficient glider and by riding on air currents that rise up from the ocean's surface, P. sandersi was able to soar for miles over the open ocean without flapping its wings, occasionally swooping down to the water to feed on soft-bodied prey like squid and eels.
The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
