Pelagornis sandersi: the largest flying bird ever found

Fossilized remains of the largest flying bird ever found have been identified by scientists, BBC reports.

The 25m-year-old fossil was unearthed 30 years ago in South Carolina, but it has taken until now to identify that this is a new species.

Scientists have called the largest flying bird in history of earthPelagornis sandersi. They believe it would have been twice the size of the wandering albatross, the largest living bird.

Daniel Ksepka, curator of science at the Bruce Museum in Connecticut, said: "This fossil is remarkable both for the size, which we could only speculate on before the discovery, and for the preservation.

"The skull in particular is exquisite [...] and given the delicate nature of the bones... it is remarkable that the specimen made it to the bottom of the sea, became buried without being destroyed by scavengers, fossilised, and then was discovered before it was eroded or bulldozed away."

"It would have been fast and very efficient," Dr Ksepka added.

"It could likely glide at speeds over 10m per second - faster than the human world record for the 100m dash."

However, on land, the seabird was probably far less graceful.

"The long wings would have been cumbersome and it would have probably spent as little time as possible walking around," Dr Ksepka explained.

As mentioned, huge birds like this were once common, but they vanished about three million years ago. Scientists do not yet understand why these giants of the skies died out.

Source: BBC