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Detail from an illustration of Genyornis (aka the "Demon Duck of Doom") not looking so tough as it is chased from its nest by a Megalania lizard in prehistoric Australia. Credit: Peter Trusler ...
Bits of an extinct bird’s eggshells may be clue to why megafauna vanished. A new study suggests the 500-pound Genyornis newtoni laid the eggs in Australia, which could shed light on an even ...
Geese have a reputation for being aggressive birds, so imagine one that’s more than 6.6 ft tall and weighs about 507 lb. That’s Genyornis newtoni, an Ice Age “thunder bird” from Australia ...
For more than a century, scientists have been unsuccessfully hunting for skull fossils for the thunder bird species Genyornis newtoni. About 50,000 years ago, these titans, also known as mihirungs ...
Genyornis was one of many large animals – known as “megafauna” – that once roamed Australia and vanished at around the same time. The work by Miller, Magee and others pinned a clear date of 50,000 ...
Genyornis went extinct about 45,000 years ago, meaning it shared Earth with anatomically modern humans and even Neanderthals (though the latter were not in Australia).
Because Genyornis was a colonizing nester—unlike emus and ostriches, which can nest alone and survived though the millennia—it was easy for people to find large caches of Genyornis eggs, ...
To the right, an emu-egg, and to the left is the egg that the researchers believe originates from the Demon Duck of Doom, Genyornis newtoni. The latter egg weighs about 1.5 kilograms, which is ...
The 'thunder bird' Genyornis newtoni lived alongside humans and went extinct about 45,000 years ago. By Laura Baisas Published Jun 3, 2024 10:31 AM EDT Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 ...
"Genyornis newtoni had a tall and mobile upper jaw like that of a parrot but shaped like a goose, a wide gape, strong bite force, and the ability to crush soft plants and fruit on the roof of ...
The last remaining mihirung species was the roughly 6.5 feet tall Genyornis newtoni. These stocky birds went extinct about 45,000 years ago–living alongside humans for a bit. News ...