Blanco R Ernesto, Jones Washington W
Instituto de Física, Facultad de Ingeniería, Julio Herrera y Reissig 565, Montevideo 11300, Uruguay.
Proc Biol Sci. 2005 Sep 7;272(1574):1769-73. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2005.3133.
'Terror bird' is a common name for the family Phorusrhacidae. These large terrestrial birds were probably the dominant carnivores on the South American continent from the Middle Palaeocene to the Pliocene-Pleistocene limit. Here we use a mechanical model based on tibiotarsal strength to estimate maximum running speeds of three species of terror birds: Mesembriornis milneedwardsi, Patagornis marshi and a specimen of Phorusrhacinae gen. The model is proved on three living large terrestrial bird species. On the basis of the tibiotarsal strength we propose that Mesembriornis could have used its legs to break long bones and access their marrow.
“恐怖鸟”是恐鹤科的通用名称。这些大型陆生鸟类可能是从中新世到上新世-更新世界限期间南美洲大陆上占主导地位的食肉动物。在此，我们使用基于胫跗骨强度的力学模型来估计三种恐怖鸟的最大奔跑速度：米氏中恐鹤、马氏巴塔哥尼亚鸟以及一种恐鹤亚科属的标本。该模型在三种现存大型陆生鸟类物种上得到了验证。基于胫跗骨强度，我们认为中恐鹤能够用其腿部折断长骨并获取骨髓。
