• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Non-Terror Bird

Non-Terror Bird

September 17, 2013
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/130917_sciup_bird.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):

A not-so-terrible bird. I’m Bob Hirshon, and this is Science Update.

Gastornis skull. (Mitternacht90/Wikipedia)

50 million years ago, a flightless bird as tall as a person – with a beak the size of a human head – roamed North America and Europe. Scientists once thought that the bird, called Gastornis, was a fearsome, meat-eating predator. But a chemical analysis of its bones has revealed that these scary-looking animals weren’t so terrible after all. University of Bonn geochemist Thomas Tuetken led the study.

THOMAS TUETKEN (University of Bonn):

Analyzing calcium isotopes from these fossil bones of this giant bird, in comparison to modern plant and meat eating animals, we come to the conclusion that this is probably not a meat eating giant bird, but more likely was using this giant massive beak to ingest plant matter and not meat.

HIRSHON:

But he says Gastornis probably didn’t have many predators either. That’s because most meat-eating mammals at the time were too small to pose much of a threat. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society. 

Category: Daily Show, Station DownloadTag: Animal Behavior, Genetics & Evolution, Paleontology & Dinosaurs
Previous Post:Insect Gears
Next Post:Toxic Roundup

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Cat Video
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • NASA
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Image of computer screen depicting an orange cat with a variety of alphanumeric scientific data superimposed on the the screen.
Spotted skunk performing handstand to threaten predators

Copyright © 2025 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos