Flexibility along the Neck of the Neogene Terror Bird Andalgalornis steulleti (Aves Phorusrhacidae)

Claudia P. Tambussi; Ricardo de Mendoza; Federico J. Degrange; Mariana B. Picasso

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0037701

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Research Article

Flexibility along the Neck of the Neogene Terror Bird Andalgalornis steulleti (Aves Phorusrhacidae)

Claudia P. Tambussi ,

* E-mail: tambussi.claudia@conicet.gov.ar

Affiliations División Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n, La Plata, Argentina, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas CONICET, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
⨯
Ricardo de Mendoza,

Affiliation División Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n, La Plata, Argentina
⨯
Federico J. Degrange,

Affiliations Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas CONICET, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina, Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra CICTERRA, Córdoba, Argentina
⨯
Mariana B. Picasso

Affiliation División Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n, La Plata, Argentina
⨯

Flexibility along the Neck of the Neogene Terror Bird Andalgalornis steulleti (Aves Phorusrhacidae)

Claudia P. Tambussi,
Ricardo de Mendoza,
Federico J. Degrange,
Mariana B. Picasso

Published: May 25, 2012
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0037701

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Phorusrhacids beak and bite

Posted by RobertoS on 11 Oct 2013 at 16:31 GMT

Dear authors, I'd like to ask you a question about Andalgalornis and its relatives. In a hunting scenario, do you think that these animals only pecked their prey to kill them, or that they actually did bite them? I'm curious also becouse the features of a big and narrow skull are shared with earlier theropods like Allosaurids, which are thought to have particular hunting and feeding specialization, like the so called "hatchet bite". You have shown that, for this bird, was possible to attack preys with powerful downwards strikes; do you think that added pulling-motion, made to rip an even bigger wound into the prey, is something plausible? I know that this kind of questions can't lead to any conclusive answer, but I would like very much to read your general opinion about this matter.

Roberto

No competing interests declared.

RE: Phorusrhacids beak and bite

duane_nash1 replied to RobertoS on 04 Sep 2015 at 09:32 GMT

Well Robert, there might be some truth in your comparison to Allosaurus/theropods. Check this out <a href="http://antediluviansalad....">Terror Birds Cometh: A New Theory Unlocking Phorusrhachid Feeding & Ecology</a>

No competing interests declared.

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Flexibility along the Neck of the Neogene Terror Bird Andalgalornis steulleti (Aves Phorusrhacidae)

Flexibility along the Neck of the Neogene Terror Bird Andalgalornis steulleti (Aves Phorusrhacidae)

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Phorusrhacids beak and bite

Posted by RobertoS on 11 Oct 2013 at 16:31 GMT

RE: Phorusrhacids beak and bite

duane_nash1 replied to RobertoS on 04 Sep 2015 at 09:32 GMT