Episode 240 - Terror Birds
3/29/20262 hr 42 min
For most of the Cenozoic Era, South America was home to an incredible group of predatory birds called phorusrhacids, which included some of the largest carnivorous birds of all time. With their giant axe-like beaks and powerful clawed legs, these giants have gained the nickname “terror birds.” This episode, we explore what makes these birds unique, how they varied across their diversity, and what exactly they were doing with all those terrifying tools.
In the news: a bitten plesiosaur, wildflower adaptation, a new croc, and dinosaur parents.
Time markers: Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00 News: 00:06:25 Main discussion, Part 1: 00:51:30 Main discussion, Part 2: 01:29:3015 Patron question: 02:30:05
Some helpful links mentioned in the Announcements: The Trevor Project: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/ The National Immigrant Justice Center: https://immigrantjustice.org/ Pal Humanity: https://chuffed.org/project/122818-support-north-gaza-rebuilding-lives-restoring-hope-with-pal-humanity?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio
Check out our website for this episode’s blog post and more: http://commondescentpodcast.com/
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The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org
Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
Hey, it's the Doc from The Doc Analyzes Anything, where we scientifically explain things like what is love, what is addiction, why is anxiety a good thing until it isn't, and why do people feel the need to [beep] when they walk into Kohl's or Barnes & Noble? So give us a follow to see what comes next, and let us know what strange, interesting, or macabre human behavior you want us to analyze. You know, we really are the epitome of when science and psychology walk into the bar.
Will· Host0:21
So would you say we're the punchline?
Speaker 00:24
Well, maybe some of us.
David· Host0:26
You're listening to the Common Descent Podcast. [upbeat music] Hello, Will.
Will· Host0:49
Hello, David.
David· Host0:50
Hello, listeners, and welcome to Common Descent. This is Episode 240, and our topic for today is terror birds.
Will· Host1:00
Be afraid.
David· Host1:01
[laughs] This is- [laughs] ... probably the most famous group of extinct birds outside of... I guess dodos are pretty famous.
Will· Host1:08
Yeah.
David· Host1:08
Terror birds are a group of birds, uh, the family Phorusrhacidae, which include giant predatory ancient birds of the Americas. Very, very cool group. We have brought them up a number of times on the podcast before, but this time we will be dedicating an entire episode discussion to them.
Will· Host1:28
Yes.
David· Host1:29
We