Gastornis Pronunciation

Fun Facts

• ✓Gastornis fossils were found in 1855 by Gaston Planté, who was only 19 years old at the time and would later become famous for inventing the lead-acid battery.
• ✓For over 150 years scientists thought Gastornis was a terrifying apex predator, but calcium isotope analysis published in 2014 suggests it was most likely a plant eater that used its giant beak to crack hard seeds and nuts.
• ✓Gastornis was so similar to the North American bird Diatryma that most scientists now consider them the same genus, meaning a creature found in Wyoming and one found in France were essentially cousins separated by ancient land bridges.
• ✓At roughly 170 kilograms, Gastornis weighed more than a modern lion and stood eye-to-eye with an average human adult, making it one of the largest birds in the history of life on Earth.
• ✓Gastornis lived right after the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs, thriving in warm swampy forests when early tiny horses no bigger than a dog were among its neighbors.