Paleontology breakthrough as size of 'terror bird' revealed by new 'biggest yet' discovery

A fearsome flesh-eating bird from the Phorusrhacid family - known as "terror birds" - may be the largest of its kind ever found, despite being known only from a .

However, the creature is likely to have met its demise at the hands - or more accurately the teeth - of an even more terrifying predator.

These formidable predators roamed Colombia's Tatacoa Desert about 12 million years ago, alongside car-sized armadillos, massive sloths, and ancient sabre-toothed marsupials.

This particular specimen's hints it was much larger than other known Phorusrhacids, which typically stood between one and three metres (3 to 9 feet) tall. It would have weighed in at roughly 340 pounds.

Equipped with enormous beaks, they were likely highly efficient predators whose diet consisted primarily of mammals.

However, the fossil also offers a grim clue about the bird's demise: tooth marks on the bone match those of Purussaurus, an massive ancient crocodilian which could reach up to nine metres (30 feet) long.

According to Johns Hopkins University paleontologist Siobhán Cooke, the terror bird likely did not survive such injuries, such was the ferocity of crocodilians from that era.

Phorusrhacids were adept hunters, with top-heavy frames, huge beaks, and strong legs adapted for running. Fortunately for humans, these predators were extinct long before our species arrived.

The fossil, found nearly 20 years ago in the Tatacoa Desert, has been analysed with 3D scans revealing characteristic Phorusrhacid traits.

Researchers believe it may represent a new species, though it is too fragmentary to confirm this definitively.

Today's closest living relatives of Phorusrhacids are far more benign: slender, long-legged birds like the red-legged seriema.

The terror bird's formidable relatives, including Australia's "demon ducks" and the giant Gastornis in North America and Europe, are examples of large, flightless predatory birds that evolved independently over time.

The latest research was recently published in .