Argentine palaeontologists discover giant prehistoric condor in Buenos Aires

The team of the Paleontological Museum of San Pedro found an extinct condor that exceeded 3.50 meters in length with its wings open, much more than the current Andean condor. Its fossil remains are about 10 thousand years old.

The current Andean condor has an average wingspan of about 3 meters while this extinct condor
had an extension of more than three and a half meters [Credit: Agency CTyS-UNLaM]

The discovery occurred 12 kilometers south of the Buenos Aires city of San Pedro. Dr. Federico Agnolin, researcher at the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences (MACN), Felix de Azara Foundation and CONICET, said that «it is an exceptional finding, since it is the record of a new species of giant bird that flew over the province of Buenos Aires at the end of the Pleistocene».

The current Andean condor has an average wingspan of about 3 meters while this extinct condor had an extension of more than three and a half meters.

«The ulna and radius found, belonging to the right wing, are much more robust than the Vultur gryphus, popularly known as the Andean condor, so we estimate that its body mass was much higher, although the study has just begun», Agnolin added to the Agency CTyS-UNLaM.

The director of the Museum of San Pedro Jose Luis Aguilar commented that «the weight of this great bird was probably between 18 and 20 kilos, while the Andean condor has a body mass between 12 and 15 kilos.»

Credit: Agency CTyS-UNLaM

The discovery was made by a team from the San Pedro Museum made up of Jose Luis Aguilar, Julio Simonini, Javier Saucedo, Matias Swistun, Bruno Zarlenga and Bruno Rolfo in the La Paloma establishment of the cereal company Ramon Rosa SA. «In that place, the rains generate cuts in the ground, which allows us to observe ancient sediments from the Lujanenese Age,» Aguilar said.

This gigantic new condor (which still has no name) lived accompanied by other scavenger birds such as giant caranchos, vultures and jotes. However, since birds have hollow bones, there are very few remains preserved.

Dr. Agnolin affirmed that he has just begun the study of this new specimen. «It is a relevant finding and it shows us that the condors were much more diverse at that time and that they also inhabited the Pampean region, while at present they can be seen in the Andean region, in the north of Argentina and, even, up to in the province of Cordoba».

Director Jose Luis Aguilar revealed to the Agency CTyS-UNLaM that «together with the remains of the giant condor, its was discovered the upper jaw of a juvenile peccary, that is, of a very small piglet, and the pelvis of a turtle».

Researchers Nicolas Chimento from MACN and German Gasparini from the La Plata Museum collaborated to identify the remains of these two animals found near the condor.
Aguilar said that these two animals could have been part of the diet of the giant condor: «We hope to confirm it when they finish analyzing the remains under the microscope; we see that the surface of the remains of the peccary and the turtle differs in appearance with that of the bones of the condor, which is why we believe that it has been eroded by the gastric juices of the bird».

In the presentation of this finding, the Museum of San Pedro will feature a life-size sculpture of this giant condor. The work was made by paleoartist Miguel Lugo, from the city of Ramallo, commissioned by the Municipality of San Pedro.

Source: Agency CTyS-UNLaM [July 04, 2019]

TANN

Archive