Terror Bird (Phorusrhacidae)

A 3-meter flightless predator that ruled South America/Dinosaurs & Extinct Animals

Terror birds (family Phorusrhacidae) were large flightless carnivorous birds that dominated South America as apex predators for roughly 60 million years, from the Paleocene to the Pleistocene. The largest species, Kelenken guillermoi, stood about 3 meters tall and had a skull 71 cm long with a massive hooked beak. They weighed up to 350 kg and could likely run at speeds of 14 meters per second. When the land bridge formed between North and South America, competition with placental carnivores contributed to their extinction.