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Argentavis magnificens
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  *This image is copyright of its original author The Giant Teratorn — Argentavis magnificens — was an absolutely enormous species of flying bird which lived in Argentina during the late Miocene, about six million years ago. As of now, it’s the largest species of flying bird ever discovered. It’s worth noting that the species could very well have had a much larger range than is currently known. It’s also worth mentioning that a very closely related species — also gigantic — lived until very recently along the west coast of North America, and no doubt had interactions with the people that lived there at the timeArgentavis magnificens possessed a wingspan probably somewhere between 23-30 feet, that’s about 2-3 times longer than that of the living bird with the largest wingspan –the Wandering Albatross. As far as morphology goes, it’s thought that its closest living relative is probably the Andean Condor — so just try to imagine an enormous condor and you wouldn’t be that far off. It’s known that the Giant Teratorns possessed very stout, strong legs, with large feet — as a result they were likely good walkers. Their bill was also relatively large, with a hooked tip and a wide gape. The current estimates on Argentavis magnificens size are: Wingspan: approximately 23 feet Wing area: 87.3 ft² Wing loading: 84.6 N/m² Body Length: 4.1 feet Height: 5.6–6.6 feet Mass: 154–171.6 lbs As of now there isn’t really much known about the animal’s behavior, just speculation. Based on the size and structure of the wings it seems very likely that A. magnificens flew primarily by soaring — only rarely relying on flapping flight, and only for short bursts. It seems likely as well that the species also used thermal currents for travel. Credit to @simonstahli 
Argentavis was one of the biggest birds ever . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentavis
A giant bird that got lost in time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWP_tFJmC40 Video by pbs eons https://www.pbs.org/show/eons/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzR-rom...Zg7RML9EbA
Description
The California condor is the biggest flying bird in North America, a title that it has held since the Late Pleistocene Epoch. It's just one example of an organism that we share the planet with today that seems lost in time, out of place in our world.
Thanks as always to Studio 252mya for their wonderful paleoart. You can check out more of their work here: https://252mya.com Produced in collaboration with PBS Digital Studios: http://youtube.com/pbsdigitalstudios Super special thanks to the following Patreon patrons for helping make Eons possible: Katie Fichtner, Anthony Callaghan, XULIN GE, Po Foon Kwong, Larry Wilson, Merri Snaidman, Renzo Caimi, Ordenes, John Vanek, Neil H. Gray, Marilyn Wolmart, Esmeralda Rupp-Spangle, Gregory Donovan, Ehit Dinesh Agarwal, الخليفي سلطان, Gabriel Cortez, Marcus Lejon, Robert Arévalo, Robert Hill, Kelby Reid, Todd Dittman, Betsy Radley, PS, Philip Slingerland, Jose Garcia, Eric Vonk, Tony Wamsley, Henrik Peteri, Jonathan Wright, Jon Monteiro, James Bording, Brad Nicholls, Miles Chaston, Michael McClellan, Jeff Graham, Maria Humphrey, Nathan Paskett, Connor Jensen, Daisuke Goto, Hubert Rady, Gregory Kintz, Tyson Cleary, Chandler Bass, Maly Lor, Joao Ascensao, Tsee Lee, Sarah Fritts, Ron Harvey Jr, Jacob Gerke, Alex Yan If you'd like to support the channel, head over to http://patreon.com/eons and pledge for some cool rewards! Want to follow Eons elsewhere on the internet? Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/eonsshow Twitter - https://twitter.com/eonsshow Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/eonsshow/ References: https://bit.ly/2HdL2V7 Caption author (Spanish) nahuel
Argentavis magnificens was among the largest flying birds ever to exist, quite possibly surpassed in wingspan only by Pelagornis sandersi, which was described in 2014. A. magnificens, sometimes called the Giant Teratorn, is an extinct species known from three sites in the Epecuén and Andalhualá Formations in central and northwestern Argentina dating to the Late Miocene (Huayquerian), where a good sample of fossils has been obtained.
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