Genyornis

Genyornis newtoni

  • Australia

Genyornis is an extinct Pleistocene species of thunder birds ( Dromornithidae ) that lived in Australia and became extinct about 40,000 years ago. The only previously known species Genyornis newtoni was named after the English zoologist and ornithologist Alfred Newton. Genyornis is the only living species in the Pleistocene Thunderbird. Fossils of the genus were found in all Australian states. Genyornis is also the only thunder bird genus from a skeleton found in anatomical connection exists.

Features

Genyornis was 2.0 to 2.15 meters high, about 290 kg and was a medium-sized thunder bird, smaller than Bullockornis Planei and Dromornis but stirtoni greater than Ilbandornis woodburnei. The skull of Genyornis was conical, the beak was flattened less high and less than the side of Bullockornis and Dromornis. Probably the bird gastroliths took on for crushing the existing mainly from leaves food with some skeletons were found.

Extinction

Studies on egg shells of Genyornis, found in the area of Lake Eyre, show that the population suddenly 50,000 years ago collapsed, about 40,000 to 35,000 years before the area dried up. Maybe Genyornis extinct by hunting aboriginal.

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