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Terror Birds Anonymous
Badasses of ancient South America.

Are they awesome? Y/Y
Will they kill you? Y/Y
>> Anonymous
Y
Y
>> Blackarachnia's giant robot tits !bXU0gE0lts
Dude, it would be so fucking awesome to ride one of those.

A domesticated one, I mean.
>> Anonymous
Why are all the coolest animals extinct? :(
>> Anonymous
>>242495
because humans like to kill shit.
>> Anonymous
>>242495
I know :[
>> Anonymous
>>242497
Right, like dinosaurs.
>> Anonymous
>>242497
Humans didn't kill the terror birds. They were already extinct.
>> Anonymous
>>242495
Because they were so cool, God had to kill them all or else our heads would explode from just how cool those animals were.
>> Anonymous
Why did this go extinct?
>> Anonymous
>>242510
I'm searching in bible for answers.
>> Blackarachnia's giant robot tits !bXU0gE0lts
>>242510
I think the three running theories are the Chill (too cold), Kill (humans over hunted them) and Ill (disease) theories.

I personally think it's a combination of all three.
>> Anonymous
>>242510

As cool as they seem, they were only mediocre hunters.
Once the landbridge between N.America and S.America was formed, many large cats and other predators entered the Terror Birds range, and outhunted them. Basically, they got at the food before the Birds could, and the Birds starved.
>> Anonymous
>>242760

Humans never encountered them. They went extinct before the last ice age, and Illness is almost NEVER responsible for extinction. There will always be a few that are immune, and diseases that kill too quickly don't spread enough.

You have no idea what you're talking about.
>> Anonymous
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Imagine if they were still around, wouldn't it be great?

"We can't stop here,
this is TERROR BIRD country"
>> Anonymous
>>242773

They'd be in Zoos, and rich drug lords in S.America would keep them as Pets.
>> Anonymous
>>242761
LOL WALKING WITH BEASTS

There is no clear explanation as to why terror birds went extinct. Titanis for example migrated to felid-dominated North America five million years ago, well before the great interchange, and managed to survive in this new territory for millions of years competing with saber-toothed cats and other mammalian predators.
>> Anonymous
>>242790

I've never seen Walking with Beasts, I've heard of it though.

And while there is no definite 100% explanation as too why they all died out, competition is easily the best answer. Especially when compared to the many, many other species that became extinct during or shortly after the great interchange.

There is also no way they could have migrated before the great interchange. There was no landbridge, they could not build boats and they could not fly.
>> Anonymous
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>>242481
Moar like badasses of future Australia, amirite
>> Anonymous
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They went extinct because
1. sea levels rose
2. rivers and lakes dried up
3.climate changed/shifted
The same goes for the rest of the extinct mega-fauna that inhabited the world up until around the end of the ice age.
>> Anonymous
>>242817

They weren't in Australia.
>> Anonymous
>>242861
They died for the same reasons.
>> Anonymous
what do you call those things from final fantasy... er...
>> Anonymous
>>242861


Australia has its own terror/thunder birds- see 'the Demon Duck of Doom'- but I don't know if they would be related in any way to the South American birdies. Mother nature went through a period where she experiemented with large birds. The most well-known of these are the NZ moas. Of the world's large birds, I think we've only got the emu and the ostrich left. I'm not sure if a cassowary should be included with these, although god knows those things are mean enough.
>> Anonymous
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>>242866
Chocobos?
>> Anonymous
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>>242867
Don't forget the south american rhea
they're bigger than emus
>> Anonymous
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TERROR BIRDS AND THEIR TINY FUCKING WINGS.

>>242497
>>242760
Also, 55 million years ago. No species survives for 51 million years.
>> Anonymous
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>>242894
ez
>> Anonymous
>>242894
also, yeast, nemotodes, sponges, etc
>> Anonymous
>>242894

They became extinct 3 million years ago.

Also, they are not related to Ostrich/Emu/Cassowary etc.

It's simply convergent evolution. Like the hedgehog/echdina/porcupine.
>> Anonymous
>>242794
Tell that to Titanis that got to North America almost 2 million years before the interchange:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6313741.stm

You can argue about how they got across, but not if.
>> Anonymous
>>242924
1.8 million years ago. Learn to wikipedia.
>> Anonymous
>>242988

Oh wow 1.2m years. Big difference. My estimation was right.
>> Anonymous
>>242987

Hmmm, ok I concede I was wrong about that. It still makes no sense how they got across like that though.
>> Anonymous
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>>242481
Hey sup terror chickens.