amnhnyc:

🦴We’ve got one big bird for you this #FossilFriday! Meet Gastornis gigantea.

🦤It stood more than 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall and weighed more than 330 pounds (150 kilograms). This animal lived in the Eocene, roughly 55 million years ago. All birds alive today—even ostriches, emus, and other hefty running birds—evolved from smaller, flying birds. The same goes for Gastornis gigantea, even if it’s hard to picture such a large animal developing from such minuscule origins. See it up close in the Museum’s Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs!

Photo: E. Louis/ © AMNH

#NaturalHistory #amnh #birds #dinosaurs #paleontology #ornithology #dyk #museums (at American Museum of Natural History)
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