Phorusrhacos

Phorusrhacos is an extinct genus of large, flightless, predatory bird that lived during the Miocene epoch in South America.

Portrayal in the series
Phorusrhacos was a huge, lightly-built bird with a fearsome beak. A recent discovery of a close relative in North America suggests that they also had claws on their wings, which is unusual, although it is not clear how these would have been used. Among the bones found in the stratum of the Santa Cruz Formation (now considered as mainly of mid-Miocene date) was the piece of a mandible which Florentino Ameghino (1887) at first described as that of an edentate mammal. In 1891, it was recognized to be a bird. Remains are known from several localities in the Santa Cruz Province, of Argentina. Phorusrhacos stood around 2.5 meters (8.2) feet tall and weighed approximately 130 kilograms (280 lbs).

Saving the Sabretooth
When Nigel Marven traveled back South America, one million years ago, he encountered a male Phorusrhacos scavenging a Toxodon carcass. As it began pulling meat from the carcass, a male Smilodon chased him away and began scavenging the carcass itself. Nigel then came up with a plan and quietly took part of the meat the bird dropped, tied it to his jeep and goaded the terror bird into following. Once it began chasing the meat, Nigel lured it through the time portal and into a holding pen, where it stayed until Head Keeper Bob had set up its enclosure.

Supercroc
After some time, the Phorusrhacos had got into the habit of taking dust baths, some of these were done near the fence and would create a hole under it. One time it got out when Bob was cleaning the Elasmotherium enclousure, forcing Bob to call some staff to lure the bird back with some meat tied to a jeep.

Later, a panicking titanosaur broke through the Phorusrhachos 's enclosure, allowing it to escape again. Eventually, the Phorurhacos and the other escaped animals were recaptured and taken back to their enclosures, allowing Bob to create a deeper foundation around the terror bird's exhibit so it couldn't escape.

Trivia

 * Phorusrhacos went extinct in the Miocene. Thus, it was extinct by the time the episode was set.
 * The species seen in the series is most likely Phorusrhachos longissimus since it lived in the same place as the one in the show.
 * The drawing that Nigel showed is identified as Titanis, but somehow the Phorusrhacos took over the role instead.
 * This may be because Titanis walleri lived in North America, while Phorusrhachos longissimus lived in South America.
 * Phorusrhacos is shown to be easily fended off by the Smilodon and thus had its role of top predator given to said Smilodon as mentioned in the episode, just like in the Walking with Beasts episode "Sabre Tooth." In reality, such a large terror bird like this one could have remained the top predator and fought back.
 * Phorusrhacos was arguably the easiest animal that Nigel intentionally rescued.

Gallery

 * See also:  Images of Phorusrhacos