Phorusrhacos (Prehistoric Park)

Phorusrhacos appeared in 2006 TV series called Prehistoric Park. Phorusrhacos is a genus of flightless, predatory bird which lived in the Miocene epoch in South America. It was the eighth animal rescued for the park. It was arguably the easiest animal that Nigel caught. 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 3 meters (10 ft) tall and weighed approximately 130 kilograms (280 lbs).