FOSSILISED bite marks on the leg of an ancient “terror bird” have been traced back to a massive crocodile that roamed Earth 12million years ago, a new study suggests.
A “terror bird” – also known as Phorusrhacids – was an apex predator that would have towered over humans at over 9ft tall.
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Evidence of the tussle was unearthed at the La Venta fossil site in Colombia – one of the most fossil-rich areas in South America.
After analysing the fossilised remains, a team of archaeologists concluded that a 15-feet-long caiman was likely responsible for the marks.
In the journal Biology Letters, the team suggested that La Venta’s largest ancient caiman species, Purussaurus neivensis, was behind the bite.
Although it seems like the monster responsible would not yet have been fully grown.
Adult specimens of the Purussaurus neivensis could grow up to a whopping 33 feet long.
While the flightless “terror birds” had little to fear on land, the new research suggests they were at risk around water.
“We have learned that terror birds could also be preyed [upon] and that even being an apex predator has risks,” study lead author Andrés Link, a paleontologist and biologist at the University of the Andes in Colombia, told Live Science in an email.
But the scene archaeologists have painted requires some imagination.
It’s always possible that the terror bird simply died near a body of water and became food for a nearby caiman.
Without evidence of a caiman with a belly full of “terror bird”, the findings represent an anecdotal account of an aquatic apex predator feasting on a land apex predator during the middle of the Miocene epoch some 23 million to 5 million years ago.
The terror bird fossil was first unveiled in a study published last year, where researchers suspected a crocodilian creature killed the bird.
However, the study’s authors had not yet published an analysis of the four tooth marks found on the bone.
For the most recent study, the researchers created detailed 3D images of the fossil to get a closer look at the bite mark.
The indentations showed no signs of healing – suggesting the bird did not live long after, or was already dead.
The size and shape of the marks were also consistent with those delivered by a caiman that was around 15.1 to 15.8 feet (4.6 to 4.8 m) long, according to the study.
“In my opinion this study contributes to understanding the diet of Purussaurus, the landscape of fear near the water bodies [at] La Venta during the middle Miocene and the complex ecological interactions in the protoAmazonian ecosystems of [tropical] South America,” said Link.
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