ExtinctZoo - Earth's Deadliest Flying Predators From Every Single Period

Episode Date: August 31, 2026

Look out Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, y'all got some competition

When we think of the domains that life rules, there are really only a few major ones, and by far the most talked about ones are water and land. I mean, think about it. Whenever we talked about the deadliest animal in a region, or which animal would win, it's typically centered around terrestrial or aquatic creatures. And while these two areas have no doubt been the front lines when it comes to the Battle of Life, we can sometimes forget that there's a whole other massive area that animals have been vying for control over for hundreds and millions of years. And that would be, of course, the skies.

Now, looking above today, you might find yourself underwhelmed by the avian animals available, at least when compared to the kind of stuff walking around or swimming in the water. And while I do think it's fair to say that the skies aren't as dangerous the land or water, it wasn't necessarily always like this. As over the course of natural history, avian animals have cooked up some pretty horrifying animals themselves, and not to mention, a lot of them. And as such, the competition between avian animals was far more brutal than one might think. But this then does beg the question of which animals exactly were the deadliest to fly,

and to fly from every period. Well, for a good chunk of time, we know the answer here is actually nothing. As of all the ways to get around, aviation was the last to evolve. And from the Cambrian, which began about half a billion years ago, through the end of the Sailorion, which wrapped up about 419 million years ago, we have absolutely no evidence of any animal being capable of flight. It really wasn't until the Devonian, that we got the first whiff, or shalurlare, should I say, breeze of what was to come. But honestly, as I say this, this whiff is really just a whiff.

Kind of like when you smell something, but you're not really sure if that smell is there or not, as the only flying animal from this time might have been a hoax, and this was the Rhineanatha. Now, let me clarify, though, this was a very real animal, which hailed from Devonian Scotland, and so was essentially the OG Braveheart, if you will. It was a very small arthropod, being tinier than most ants, and although it did look a lot like a bug, we actually aren't aren't even sure if it was truly an insect, which just goes to show how little we know about this guy. And so, similarly, the entire idea of it being a flyer revolves solely around its mouth. Yeah, not the wings, as no wings have ever been found.

And so rather, one study stated that the mouths were so similar to that of living mayflies, which is, by the way, if you didn't know, a flying type of insect, that the rhino natha must have flied as well. And therefore, based off the same logic, it would have also fed primarily on algae in decaying organic matter. So, yeah, even if it did fly, it wasn't that scary or predatory in any sense of the word. But, again, given the circumstances and the fact that it was the only flying animal that we know from this period, it wins by default. But again, though, since no wings have been identified, it could have easily been that this guy did not fly at all.

And other researchers have proposed this as a possibility, regardless of its mouth shape or not. But one thing is very clear, and that is when the Devonian ended and the Carboniferous began, 358 million years ago, there would no longer be any second-guessing, as very quickly aviation took off, no pun intended, with it evolving across multiple families. And the group of the very forefront of this revolution were none other than early insects, who rapidly diversified as the world climate changed, an expanse of coal swamps swallowed up the world, essentially turning Earth into one big old swamp. And ironically, compared to marine and terrestrial animals that had a weight, flying insects

got their golden age almost immediately, as the Carboniferous itself is referred to as the golden age of insects, with a group dominating the ancient land masses and obtaining sizes that dwarf anything seen today. And by the way, through mechanisms that are still not fully understood. And as a result, the deadliest flying insects of the Carboniferous were unlike its potentially flying predecessors, in the fact that these guys were certainly not smaller than ants, and rather were far larger. In fact, it wasn't even that uncommon for an insect to be a giant, with there being multiple groups in genera of large flyers, including the Paleoidioptera, Bojo flibyaday, and more.

However, of all the terrifying creepy crawlies buzzing around, the one that was arguably the most deadly, was the species hailing from the group Meganisoptera, an extinct order of wigan insects, that were usually predatorial and almost always way too large for comfort, with the king of them having been no doubt the Meganeura, a monstrous bug from Carboniferous France. Now, on the surface, it superficially resembled some sort of primitive dragonfly. But don't do worry, because you would have never mixed these two up. As this thing, it looked more like a bird from a distance than a bug, being among the largest insects to ever fly,

possessing a wingspan of around 75 centimeters or nearly 2.5 feet. So yeah, imagine two and a half subs stacked back to back. Oh, and it also weighed 300 times more than any modern dragonfly. So even if you were blindfolded, I think you'd feel the difference if this thing landed on you. So obviously, this was comfortably one of the largest things in the air, and it was also very successful. But its success wasn't simply through sheer size, as it came equipped with an array of features that made it a very deadly and highly successful predator. This included greatly enlarged compound eyes, giving them a massive field of view, and the ability to detect fast movement very well and precisely. Then its legs, which unsurprisingly were large and long,

happened to be covered in multiple spines that helped entrap prey in an escapable grip, with each of its limb segments having had four distinct joints as well, making them extremely maneuverable and flexible. And then, of course, to seal the deal, each Meganura had four powerful wings that worked independently and had their own separate muscles allowing them to move these wings in different directions, meaning they could hover, fly forward very fast, and then also go backwards. And by the way, when I said fast, I really meant fast, as they could potentially reach speeds

of 35 miles per hour or 56 kilometers an hour, meaning that even the average person on a bike would not be able to keep up with the Meganura. This speed helped its snipe prey straight out of the air, which once locked in its spiny, limbed embrace, would be dispatched by a pair of razor-sharp mandibles that move left to right, treading the victim apart. And thus far, based on known remains, it seems that the Megynura would have been the undisputed aerial king of waterside environments, such as Reworthodox. rivers and lakes, while it then might have also occasionally traveled across open swamped

forests looking for more prey, the most likely consisted of other insects, small arthropods, and tetrapods. Really, the only silver lining for the other carboniferous animals stuck living with this flying monstrosity is that the Meganeur only evolved towards the very end of the Carboniferous, showing up during the Pennsylvanian. And thankfully for the other animals, it wouldn't survive past this point, making its reign a rather short one. Yet, with that said, the overall reign of flying insects hadn't just the other than just

had run out of juice just yet. For yes, while the Carboniferous is known as their golden age, the preceding Permian, which began 298 million years ago, was still filled with numerous giant winged creepy crawlies, with a large amount of the Carboniferous families surviving into this period. And this included, by the way, the same family from which the Megynurra descended from. And while it had gone extinct, other genera had risen to take its place as the king of the skies, namely the Megynaropsis, a related kin, which called Permian-Raeanorea. North America home, specifically living within then states of Kansas and Oklahoma. In many ways, it heavily resembled the elder Meganeura, maintaining the four wings, compounded

eyes, spines on its limbs, and of course, the sharp mandibles. And yes, even the size was reminiscent of Megynura, with fossils indicating a wingspan of the 70 inches or over 2.3 feet. And so when it comes to size between Meganeura and Megynoropsis, we kind of are just splitting hairs here, or rather wings. So really, the most major difference between these two was wing Venetian. In other words, the pattern of veins seen along their wings. And so even that is nothing too major.

And as a result, you could say that the Permian had a very similar bug problem on its hand, especially considering the Megynorops' diet and hunting style likely mirrored the Meganeura one for one, having the same old swooping and sniping little prey out of the air or off the trees style of hunting. Now for my Permian enthusiasts out there, you may have started thinking about now that I am forgetting about tetrapods, who had taken some pretty massive steps of their own, or should I say it leaps. However, at this time, they'd only reach the ability to glide.

Full flight hadn't been evolved just yet. But for Dung and Giggles, if we did decide to include them anyways, they would give flying insects some pretty tough competition, as during the Permian, we saw the evolution of groups like the Vigeltasauridae, whose members could be pretty comparable in size to meganeropsis, as the largest genera, like the Silurosaurus and Vigeltesaurus may not have had greater wings spans, but they were heavier than these flying bugs. Additionally, these guys, unlike the insects, came equipped with versatile claws and mouths filled with teeth designed to catch and kill a wide variety of insects.

And while these guys didn't happen to live alongside the meginauropsis, geographically or chronologically speaking, I personally do think these reptiles would have had the edge in a fight if it ever went down between them. But for now, I do think it's only fair to disqualify them, as again, they were not true flyers, just gliders. But don't he vertebrate lovers fret, because tetrapods and reptiles more specifically were about to get their very own shot. As alluded to, they had already started inching more and more towards flight, and this

increased the competition between them and the insects, cranking up the heat for the latter. And to make matters worse for the insects, the Permian extinction, which marked the end of the period, happened to be absolutely devastating for insects, being in fact the only one to severely hamper their diversity, which ended with it wiping out 80% of insect species. And so with these two factors combined, reptiles were able to take over the reins, if you will. As it was then, about 228 million years ago, that we saw the evolution of the wait for it, the first pterosaurs, a clade of extremely diverse flying reptiles that would one day go on to change the world. However, they would have to wait a bit, as during the Triassic, they still had a lot of room to grow,

but they still did make some considerable advancements, outgrowing any flying animal seen prior to this point. And of the Triassic, the largest and arguably the deadliest of this lot, would have been the Kailas deventis. This genus was a kind of dimorphodonted that popped up at the very end of the Triassic and lived within Western North America, which at the time was largely covered by hot air deserts, that this terrosaur ruled from above. Interestingly, this guy was actually first discovered not so long ago back in 2018, and one of the most striking things first noted about it was its measurements, as despite being an early terosaur, the intact and well-conditioned fossils, clearly indicated a wingspan of 1.5 meters or nearly five feet long.

So, comparable to the wingspan seen in many hawks. And what's more is that this guy definitely grew larger than this, as the specimen in question was a non-fully matured individual, which hadn't yet stopped growing at the time of its death. And going off as simply the juveniles remains alone, the Calus deventus was already the biggest thing flying around at the time. And in some ways, it would have appeared even bigger, as this thing's head was an absolute noggen,

being laterally narrow, deep, and possessing enormous nostrils in an antorbital finestra. And so what this allowed was that I could pack in a lot of mixed teeth and powerful muscles while still retaining a hollowed and lighter skull that didn't inhabit its ability to fly. So, a win-win. And out of these mixed teeth, the chalesterventis specifically had three different types. One that was fang-like, another that was leaf-shaped, and then those that resembled tiny blades, letting it eat to myriad of small animals like insects and fellow reptiles.

So a diverse diet. something which would have been very important in a brutal environment where food would only come by every so often. And based on the design of the skull, it's also presumed that this pterosaur largely hunted by eyesight using powerful vision to scour the dunes for any signs of movement, while its wing construction then made it a very agile flyer, being capable of taking advantage of the less dense, warm desert air. And so conclusion here is pretty much that this guy was a nightmare concoction for all the small animals that lived within those very ancient dunes.

Okay, so Keles deventis is with a very ancient day. without a doubt, a very strong first contender for the terrors. But let me tell you, this group had very little interest in giving up their newfound crown of the skies, or stopping at 1.5 meters in wingspan. And so just that the dinosaurs would go on to dominate the land for the Mesozoic, terosaurs were about to do the same. And when the Jurassic rolled around, these flying reptiles were entering a new age, an age filled with newer and more horrifying terrors.

By now they had a large and dense geographic presence around the globe, and a multitude of varying groups existed. In fact, I dare say that of all the periods, it was the Jurassic on competition for the deadliest terrosaur, and therefore flying animal, was the toughest. And while I do think there are very few good candidates for the deadliest terrosaur in this period, the one that has to be mentioned is Jark Skiahannach, and to any Gaelic speakers, I'm sorry if I just butcher that. And this guy was a species of ramphronkiane Terosaurs that was unearth from the Lael

Shale formation of Scotland only four years ago. Now, it specifically existed during the middle Jurassic when Earth was composed in numerous tropical and subtropical islands, and has a story a bit slimmer to the Klas deventus, which is that the holotype was a subadult as well, meaning that the adults would have reached larger sizes than current estimates. And yet, even with that said, this thing was still a giant, potentially having a wingspan of 3 meters or nearly 10 feet long. In other words, this one specimen that wasn't done growing was already just as large

as the wandering albatross, which for my non-enthusiast of ornithology is the bird with the longest wingspan in today's time. And so this fact of its size made it peculiarly large for Jurassic Predator, and in fact it was so peculiar that its discovery actually led to the realization that large terosaurs evolved much earlier than once believed. What this also meant was that in the sky nothing would have wanted to be for this thing, and anything that did was likely in for a very rude awakening, as while its body plan was over overall fairly standard for its family, it was unusually robust, and possessed very elongated

unguals, the fancy term for clause. In its case, were reinforced by powerful tendons, and possibly retractable to a degree. And as such, it's thought that they could have doubled as a secondary means of dishing out damage or hunting. While its main armament for this case, was the trove of long spear-like teeth that interlocked when biting down, suggesting that it mainly coasts of the waterways and coasts, looking for its next seafood or seafood adjacent, dinner. As I said, there was other competition out there for the title of deadliest, and some of this relates to unnamed and undescribed species, as over the years, giant, but albeit fragmented specimens, have been found periodically, with wingspans possibly even greater than the Giacs.

Yet, with that said, I will also say that many of these mystery terrorsorsesores seem to show traits associated with the catenocomastidae, a family of pterosaurs who had unique teeth that were seemingly designed for filter feeding. So giants, yes, but potentially gentle giants. Maybe. Now, one terrosaur that really does give the Jark or run for its money is a smaller, yet perhaps more voracious kind of flyer, the Saracepturus. Contrary to the Jark, this terrosaur, a fellow ramphorincoid, lived during the late Jurassic within China. It was not one of the largest Jurassic terrors, but was still pretty big, having a wingspan of 1.74 meters or 5.7 feet.

What made it exceedingly unique, though, was Istentician. with many of its teeth being recurved, extremely sharp, and most importantly, equipped the two keels that formed a cutting edge, giving it a design that seemed to have been meant for slicing straight through flesh, which was also a one-of-a-kind design amongst Jurassic terrorsors. And because of this, we could be talking about a terasaur that it was an active and opportunistic predator of terrestrial inland animals, giving true meaning to the phrase, death from above. No matter what you go with, though, it is clear that in the Jurassic, everything deadly in the sky was essentially a terasaur.

And this trend would continue well into the Cretaceous, the period in which terrors essentially went from being big flyers to literally the closest things we've ever had to dragons. And no, I'm not joking, with numerous gender evolving that exceeded anything seen during the Jurassic. I mean, for example, even the famed terasaur, Tyrannadon, who was far larger than a deer, wouldn't even be considered within the top five deadliest terosaurs of the time.

as the true deadliest flyers the Cretaceous came from solely one infamous family, a family known as the Astarcaday. They were a bit late to the party, only showing up towards the Middle Cretaceous. Yet, once they evolved, no time was wasted, and they rapidly achieved a worldwide distribution and significantly increased in size, possibly because they started to fill niches not typically held by pterosaurs, such as, for example, becoming what I can refer to as terrestrial stalkers, similar to how storks and ground hornbills operate.

And soon enough, literally every continent on the planet, Antarctica included, had at least one species of as Darkaday that was rocking a 5-meter or 16-foot wingspan, which, for reference, is as long as a decently sized now crocodile. And let me also point out, as Darkids did get much bigger than even this, with genera like the cryodracken, Quetzokalus, and Aramborgiania, all sporting wingspans over 30 feet or 9 meters long. However, while there were multiple kinds that were gigantic, and of these giants many were fairly similar to each other in size, I still think the title for the deadliest flyer of the Cretaceous is an easy one, as among the options there was an esdarkid that was essentially the T-Rex of its family, and this would be the Hatsygopteryx. First evolving during the most strictian age about 72 million years ago,

this unusual pterosaur was one of the last iterations of the Azdarkids, yet also the most nightmarish, and that largely has to do with its unique home. as remains from this beast have only been found in one formation, a formation in a part of Romania that at the time would have been a piece of Hatsug Island, a paleo island about the size of Hispaniola that it was in many ways severed from the rest of the world, being over 100 miles from any other landmass and is surrounded by a very deep marine basin, meaning once you were marooned there, you were kind of stuck. And of the castaways, so to speak, there were multiple species of dinosaurs, terrorsors, duh, other reptiles, and even mammals that lived on the island.

You may know by now that when life is stuck in an island, strange things can happen. And the strangeness here materialized by many of the dinosaurs, which we usually imagine being large, such as saropods, experiencing something known as insular dwarfism. While then on the flip side, our terosaur friends experience insular gigantism, likely due to less competition. And this island was, in fact, so odd that the largest predatory dinosaur here was roughly the turkey-sized theropod ballar bundock. Yeah, turkey-sized.

And as such, you didn't have the traditional Cretaceous environment, where dinosaurs were the apex predators. And so the pterosaurs, being so kind, graciously filled that spot, with the Hatsygopteryx taking the main lead, resulting in not only a giant terosaur, but also one designed to kill prey unlike any other. And the first sign that something wasn't quite right with this thing was its sheer robustness. As for a pterosaur, it was built like a tank, with its bones being shorter and thicker than relatives of comparable sizes, making the hats gopterigs of normally durable and capable of scrapping with larger animals. On top of being tanky, it was also simply a true giant, measuring between 10 to possibly 12 meters or 33 to 39 feet, from wing to wing, depending on who you ask, which is, by the way, literally

the size of a Cessna 150, a plane. Now, this also gives it a wingspan fairly similar to the North American Quetzalco Atlas, who was traditionally known as the biggest pherosaur of all time. But just to play devil's advocate here, there are studies that find these numbers. numbers to be exaggerated. Yet even if we give the Quest of Coatlus, the edge in its wingspan and height, as it did truly stand much taller when walking up right, the hat sogopteryx overall was much more heavy due to its robustness and more muscular build, and it likely weighed on par with certain kinds of bears. And yet the crazy thing is, is that even with it weighing as much

as a bear, it was still actually able to fly. Those massive wings weren't just simply for show. However, it did have a quite, let's say, more limited way of flying, or at least to start flying, as it had to launch itself off the ground in order to get going, and also had a shorter flight range, while then having to rely on thermal soaring. That being said, flying was still very important to it, and during these flights the Hasogopteryx would have been able to use its extremely powerful eyes to spot prey amongst the island, which would have included many kinds of different animals, including small dinosaurs, which would then follow land by and dispatch with the deadliest weapon

ever wielded by a terrosaur. And that is, a massive skull that was longer than most NFL players, measuring some 2.5 meters or 8.2 feet long. And while a long skull might not have been unique amongst the giant azdarkids, what was was the absurd thickness and width of the Hatzogdrix's skull, being again, probably going to hate me using this word, far more robust than what's been seen elsewhere. And then mirroring the body plan, the skull was also highly muscular, sporting multiple strong muscle attachment points, and having a spongy internal material, something that is unseen

in other pterosaurs, with its purpose likely to reinforce the skull. Not to mention that its neck also followed suit, being an absolute unit, literally basically the Mike Tyson of Terra's neck's and so when you combine this with the beak's pointed tips, you get a literal head that is also an axe, with the Hatsygopteryx killing prey by stabbing and bludgeoning them with this large built-in structure. Talk about a hard head, am I right? Additionally, the power it generated with each strike was great enough that it could literally have dismembered larger prey, which also means that it wasn't only limited to preying on animals that it could swallow. It could in fact kill bigger things and then, let's say, rearrange them until they're more bite-sized.

And as the whole package, the Hatsogopteryx became one of the only animals in the entire world to be an apex predator whilst living amongst dinosaurs, and therefore easily giving it the title of the deadliest animal to fly during the Cretaceous. So, by now, you might have noticed how terrors seem to be just getting deadlier and deadlier with every period. Yet, sadly, or perhaps gladly, depending on how you look at it, we would not get a chance to see what they cooked up next. As 66 million years ago, the Hansegoptics along with every other terrosaur would be erased from the world in the KT extinction, opening the doors of competition once more.

And these hypothetical doors were left wide open, as in the aftermath, not only were pterosaurs gone, but other fliers were devastated as well, one of which were birds, who also barely survived. Yet, in this cutthroat world of ours, sometimes barely is actually enough, as during the Cenozoic they would recover and ultimately take over the skies. And honestly, they did so with relative ease, as going into the paleogene, which began immediately after the KT extinction, there was no other competition. The giant insects were long gone, and the pterosaurs, the once ironclad rulers of the

Mesozoic, were now extinct as well, and thus allowing birds to slip into every type of flying niche available. And one of the few animals that were able to match the terosaurs' giant energy, at least a bit, were a group of sea birds that appeared not so far into this period. The Pellegrinithae. Showing up only 4 million years after the asteroid, this extinct group of birds would become one of Earth's most dominant bird types of the entire paleogene, being extensively common in the fossil record, holding not only monopoly over their niche, but also reaching giant sizes,

with even the smaller species being comparable to wandering albatrosses, which again is the current extant record holder for the longest wingspan. Funny enough and fun fact though, their closest living kin are generally considered to be land in waterfowl. So, nothing too impressive. However, admittedly, they would appear to the naked eye more as a sort of primitive albatross or pelican. But one way to easily end that confusion, besides again their size, would be to bring one to the dentist, as their mouth situation was all sorts of messed up. You see, they were toothless, and yet you would never think this, as each one had a row of what appeared to be sharp, spiny, teeth. But really, these so-called

teeth were actually hollow outgrows with jawbones, design to catch, slippery marine animals without giving them a chance to escape. Now these quote-unquote teeth were great at their job, but were admittedly a little bit delicate and kept them quite specialized as a whole. And as such, a lot of their menace pretty much stems solely from their stature. But it did certainly help that they were outsizing the competition by an order of magnitudes. And the max extent of this was seen in the Pelagornus, the genus that evolved at the tippity end of the Paleo Gene, just two million years before it ended. And as far as we know, was the largest bird to ever fly by wingspan. period, with recovered fossils suggesting a wingspan between 6 and 7.4 meters or 20 and 24 feet.

So twice that of a wandering albatross, and almost double the length of a rhino. So yeah, just imagine looking up and seeing that flying above you. Interestingly though, even at this size, it only would have weighed as much as a large dog, essentially. But I guess that's all that was needed, as they had no aviary predators, instead pretty much being the king, and they achieved a remarkable global range, often being found near coastal cliffs that it would use to leap from and enter flight, and then would glide utilizing the ocean and air currents. And just like the albatross, some scientists have speculated that it might have spent extended durations over the ocean and away from land.

Yet, like I said, most of his pulling power for the crown came down to its size. But there were also other birds who were arguably more deadly, at least from the viewpoint that they could tackle a wider range of prey, and this was mainly seen in the early birds of prey, such as the Thalcaniformis, Assypidroformis, and owls, who were smaller in the Pelagoon Orthodee, yet hypercarnivorous. and owners of sharp beaks designed to tear flesh and deadly talons that could grip or puncture prey. Yet I will say that if a fight was forced, I think the sheer size difference of the Pelican Orthodei might just have given them a little bit of an unbeatable edge here. That said, competition during the Paleogene was without question very tight, and it would remain this way amongst birds,

who were seemingly bent on giving each other hell. As in the following Neogene, things only got more intense, as birds continued to expand their domain and diversify in a world that was also rapidly changing. courtesy of an ice age that set in about 33.9 million years ago. And over the course of this ice age, many groups of reptiles were negatively impacted. In some cases, pushed to extinction. But birds, they prevailed, and one group of birds of prey that not only survived, yet thrived in this new world, were the territorans. Found across North and South America throughout much of the neogene,

this now extinct family of birds were responsible for some of the largest and scariest-looking things to ever fly. As far as we know, at least six genera of of territories evolved through the ages. Yet by a clear margin, the most menacing to evolve and a strong contender for the deadliest flyer of the Neogene was the giant Argentavis, which appeared 9 million years ago within Argentina. As far as we can tell, the closest living relative of the Argentavis and other territories are New World vultures and condors.

And in some ways, many researchers have compared the Argentavis to these two, with it likely having shared a somewhat similar appearance. let me emphasize this somewhat, as it drastically differed in size. And to be honest, the Argentavis was an anomaly amongst all flying birds. Because though, yes, the Pelagorinus reigned king in linear dimensions, the Argentavis was the goat of weight, often being considered the heaviest bird to ever fly. And also, by the way, the heaviest flyer of the entire Cenozoic, with large adults weighing between 70 and 80 kilograms, or 154 and 176 pounds. So in a number of the most of the heaviest So in other words, it's kind of like the average man, depending on the country, just one day waking up and finding that they have now grown wings.

And Carrie said average man, these wings were pretty darn big, with Argentavis sporting a wingspan of close to 6 to 7 meters or 16 to 23 feet long. So even if it didn't have a wingspan as long as the Pelagornuses, it was still comparable to all but the absolute largest pterosaurs, which is a true feat in itself. And because of this, Argentavis was likely able to intimidate many animals within its environment, including, by the way, terrestrial metatherian predators. In fact, there's even been a lot of discussion that scaring others off of their kills was one of the main ways that Argentavis secured its own food. While then, in addition, it's also been compared to vultures as far as using scavenging for its diet, using its flying capabilities, powerful eyes, and likely a very keen sense of smell,

to detect carry-on across a mind-boggling territory that, per Argentavis, might have measured in excess of 500 square kilometers or 190 square miles. And for a long time, this whole idea about it being a scavenging kleptoparasitic bird was the main hypothesis around Argentavis. But in recent times, new information has painted a bit more of a gruesome picture. It's unlike vultures, the bill of Argentavis was longer and held a wider gap, that therefore could conceptually take larger prey in, whole. Meanwhile, their large and robust size indicated that they could better take on sizable prey

compared to other birds. Not to mention the fact that scavenging alone would have likely been quite limiting for their size, requiring consistent large carrion to sustain itself, whereas being an opportunistic predator and scavenger would give it a lot more choices. And just seeing how intimidating these things looked, I personally would never want to find myself next to one, is honestly I wouldn't even be confident that I was not one of those said choices. And that brings up another problem, which is that if you lived in its environment, there was really no shot that you'd escape its gaze, seeing that it inhabited. largely open areas with limited vegetation, and again had some pretty powerful senses

that could detect you in more ways than one. Additionally, as a cherry on top, having been a bird, the Argentavos was likely more intelligent than terasors as well. And if I've learned anything from our own kind, it's that intelligence alone can make something much scarier. And ultimately, the proof was in the pudding, as this genus, which is only known by one species, ended up existing for over two million years. Well then its family of the Territorns would also enjoy an exceedingly long rain, which only ended just 10,000 years ago, meaning that they had made it through the neogene all the way into the next and still ongoing period, the quaternary. And though the Territorns were still doing just fine, considering that the Argentavus was

now extinct, I don't know if I consider this group to be the deadliest flyers from this period, as we did see the evolution of some other pretty massive birds of prey, who were, without doubt, birds of prey in every sense of the definition, being essentially eagles, but on steroids. And one of the best examples of this was the Haast eagle, a giant, agent, 18 kilogram or 40 pound extinct species of eagle, with a relatively short wingspan for its size, but a kit that otherwise was built solely for killing large animals, as it possessed titanic and powerful razor-sharp talons that could pierce straight through flesh, not to mention a beak that could strip flesh off like the wrapper of a lollipop.

And with his traits, the Haas Eagle, which lived in the Middle Earth, I mean, New Zealand, was able to hunt seriously large megafaunal prey, like the flightless moas, who in themselves could be up to 200 kilos or 440 pounds. Which means, relatively speaking, that would kind of be like a human taking down an adult polar bear with our bare hands. And speaking of us, we too might have felt the vice of this bird's talents, because when humans showed up in New Zealand some 800 years ago, the host eagle was still plentiful. And though our arrival was, like for many animals, a bad omen,

with our kind eventually leading to its extinction, there are oral accounts in Maori tradition, which speak of a colossal predatory bird that was powerful enough to carry off human children and even take down adults, with many experts attributing these oral accounts to none other than surprise surprise the Haas'Eagel. Alas, like I hinted though, we in the end still got the upper hand over this oversized eagle. And that's also a bit ironic, as nowadays I would even perhaps go as far as to say that we are the rulers of the sky. Because while yes, there are eagles and other birds of prey that are still around and are just as majestic

as they've always been, let's just say there ain't nothing more powerful than an Apache helicopter. At least, that's what Ted taught me. Thanks for watching, and until next time, on Extinct Zoo.