Prehistoric bird bones weighing more than 3 meters tall and weighing half a ton were found in Crimean caves

Usually, the animals that are alive today are shadows of themselves — from worms to otters to penguins to sharks , which were larger in the past than they are now, according to foreign media reports. Just like the newly discovered fossils, this is no exception among birds.

Paleontological archaeologists have recently found the skulls of the largest birds that have ever lived on Earth in a cave in Crimea, which once lived with early Europeans.

The bird dates back 1.5 million to 2 million years and belongs to the Pachystruthio dmanisensis species. Based on the recent discovery of this huge femur, the researchers estimate that it is at least 3.5 meters high and weighs 450 kilograms. This makes it one of the largest birds ever recorded.

Nikita Zelenov, lead author of the study, notes that the bird weighs almost twice as much as the largest Moa moa, three times the largest surviving bird, three times that of the common ostrich and twice as much as an adult polar bear.

The team found that the newly discovered bird's femur was longer and thinner than that of an elephant bird ( once considered the largest bird in the world — but because of its closer appearance to modern ostriches , it suggested it ran much faster than an elephant bird. And its speed may also be key to its survival — the bones are found along with many Pleistocene predators such as giant cheetahs, hyenas and saber-toothed tigers.

But perhaps the most interesting thing about this bird is where it was found. In the past, only huge bird bones have been found in the southern hemisphere, such as the Moa moa in New Zealand, the elephant bird in Madagascar and the thunderbird in Australia. Fossils found in Crimea suggest that giant ancient birds were more widespread than people thought.

The study was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.