In Ancient Times, Huge Birds Lived In Crimea, Which Caught The First People

Video: In Ancient Times, Huge Birds Lived In Crimea, Which Caught The First People

Video: In Ancient Times, Huge Birds Lived In Crimea, Which Caught The First People
Video: Колыма - родина нашего страха / Kolyma - Birthplace of Our Fear 2024, March
In Ancient Times, Huge Birds Lived In Crimea, Which Caught The First People
In Ancient Times, Huge Birds Lived In Crimea, Which Caught The First People
Anonim
In ancient times, huge birds lived in the Crimea, which caught the first people - a bird, Crimea, an ancient bird, an ostrich
In ancient times, huge birds lived in the Crimea, which caught the first people - a bird, Crimea, an ancient bird, an ostrich

In a Crimean cave, Russian paleontologists have discovered the remains of huge ancient birds. These birds did not fly, but they ran quickly on powerful legs.

The Crimean flightless bird turned out to be the largest hitherto found in Europe. Her height was a whopping 3.5 meters, and she weighed about 450 kg.

The cave was discovered by accident during the construction of the Tavrida track. Inside we saw branched corridors with animal bones. The most valuable were the finds of the bones of a huge bird, which in appearance may have looked like an ostrich, but was three times larger than it.

Drawing: Andrey Atuchin

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Now researchers are studying the bones of the bird and wondering what it could eat. Was she a predator like many ancient large birds, or did she eat like ostriches?

But the most interesting thing is that this bird lived about 1.5 million years ago. Thus, she was a contemporary of the first people of the genus Homo Erectus (Erectus Man), who left Africa and penetrated into Europe. She died out about 1, 2 million years ago.

It is possible that humans played a role in its extinction. Such a large bird was undoubtedly a desirable prey and a valuable source of meat, bones, feathers and eggs.

According to paleontologist Nikita Zelenkov of the Russian Academy of Sciences, when he was sent the thigh bone of a Crimean bird, he first thought it was the remains of an "elephant bird" from Madagascar.

"Birds of this size have never been found in Europe," Zelenkov says.

Comparison of the bones of the Crimean bird with the bones of the ostrich

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Upon examination of the bones, it turned out that the remains are similar to the previously known species. "Pachystruthio dmanisensis", the bird they found was taken to him. Previously, birds of this species were found in Georgia and Turkey, but there they were more ancient.

Elsewhere, huge birds have been found in New Zealand (Moa), Madagascar (Epiornis), South America (Fororakos), and North America (Diatrima).

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