13 Oct 2026 12:00
The Terror Birds
👕 Bird Merch — Get yourself some bird shirts!~~~
Episode 139 of The Science of Birds takes listeners into prehistory to meet the Terror Birds: giant, flightless predators of the family Phorusrhacidae. Standing as tall as 10 feet, with axe-like beaks and sickle-clawed feet, these birds ruled South America for tens of millions of years after the dinosaurs disappeared.Host Ivan Phillipsen explores how an isolated continent, some empty ecological niches, and the amazing process of evolution gave rise to these fearsome hunters. Along the way, the episode looks at how they lived, how they hunted, and how the various species ranged from terrifying to surprisingly small.
Links of Interest
