As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Sunday 25 November 2012

Giant Eocene bird was 'gentle herbivore', study finds


Footprints believed to have been made by the giant bird Diatryma indicate that it was a "gentle herbivore" and not a fierce carnivore, scientists say.

A team of researchers from Washington, US, examined tracks uncovered in a landslide in 2009.

Previous investigations have suggested the giant bird was a carnivorous predator or scavenger.

But the absence of raptor-like claws in the footprints supports the theory that Diatryma was not a meat-eater.

Measuring 7ft (2.13m) tall and with a huge head and beak, the giant flightless bird Diatryma (believed by some experts to belong to the genus Gastornis) is commonly portrayed as a fierce predator in both scientific works and popular media.

The animal is frequently thought as "the bird that replaced dinosaurs as the top predator", said geologist and team member George Mustoe, from Western Washington University in Bellingham, US.

"Let's be honest: scary, fierce meat-eaters attract a lot more attention than gentle herbivores."


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