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Ancient Caiman May Have Preyed on Another Apex Predator—the Giant 'Terror Bird'
COLOMBIA, JUL 22 – Researchers found bite marks on a terror bird fossil indicating it was prey to a 15-foot caiman, revealing predator-prey dynamics between two apex species in ancient South America.
- On Tuesday , a new Biology Letters study revealed tooth marks on a 13-million-year-old terror bird leg bone, at the La Venta fossil site in Colombia.
- In the Middle Miocene, Phorusrhacids dominated land food chains in La Venta’s flooded wetlands, what the researchers say would have ambushed prey from the water’s edge.
- These scans matched the marks to reptile teeth using 3D digital scans by Dr. Andres Link’s team.
- Until now, Dr. Andres Link says it 'provides insight into an ancient ecosystem,' noting it is rare direct evidence of interaction between two extinct apex predators with little prior proof.
- As more fossils emerge from the Tatacoa Desert, scientists anticipate they will shed further light on prehistoric predator-prey dynamics and ecosystem complexity.
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Ancient caiman may have preyed on another apex predator—the giant 'terror bird'
The La Venta fossil site in Colombia is home to a rich fossil record, yielding a particularly diverse set of vertebrate fossil assemblages. The giant terror bird (phorusrhacid) and caiman—a large crocodile-like reptile—were known to be two of the apex predators roaming this region during the middle Miocene epoch. Although the terror bird was a terrestrial predator and the caiman was an aquatic predator, new evidence shows that they occasionally …
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Total News Sources11
Leaning Left2Leaning Right0Center5Last UpdatedBias Distribution71% Center
Bias Distribution
- 71% of the sources are Center
71% Center
L 29%
C 71%
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