A Surprise Find About Ancient 'Terror Birds'

A fossil discovery in Colombia is reshaping how scientists view the prehistoric pecking order. Researchers examining a 13-million-year-old bone from a so-called "terror bird"—a flightless creature known for its imposing size and lethal beak—have found evidence that even those apex predators sometimes ended up on the menu, per NBC News. Publishing in Biology Letters, a team led by Andres Link of Los Andes University identified tooth marks on a terror bird's leg bone that appear to match those of a juvenile caiman, an aquatic crocodile relative estimated to have been about 15 feet long.

"Until this finding, there had been little evidence that these predators ever interacted with each other," a release notes. The marks showed no signs of healing, suggesting the bird didn't survive the encounter. Terror birds, which typically weren't found in northern South America, are usually seen as top hunters, but this fossil hints that their dominance had limits. While it's unclear whether the caiman killed the bird or simply scavenged its remains, the study highlights the complexity of ancient food webs. As Link notes, "the food web is really much more complex" than simply carnivores preying on herbivores. The fossil itself was first discovered 20 years ago in Colombia's famed La Venta fossil beds, but only now has its full story emerged.