Bony-toothed Birds

Forty to fifty million years ago, when the climate of the Antarctic was mild and seasonal, some of the largest birds ever known flew and hunted over its waters. They’re known as bony-toothed birds. Fossils show that most had wingspans of more than 12 feet. Their beaks were evenly studded, tooth-like outgrowths up to an inch long. They likely skimmed fish and squid off of the water’s surface.

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Bony-toothed Birds

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.
Forty to fifty million years ago, when the climate of the Antarctic was mild and seasonal, some of the largest birds ever known flew and hunted over its waters. Fossils found across all continents show that most had wingspans of more than 12 feet. They’re known as bony-toothed birds, since “Odontopterygiformes”* (pron. oh-don-TOP-ter-idji-FORM-aze) is a… bit of a mouthful.
[Recording of turkey taking flight https://www.xeno-canto.org/586568 (0:24-0:27)]
Bony-toothed birds had slender wings and long heads, reminiscent of an albatross. The tops and bottoms of their slim beaks were evenly studded with narrow, interlocking vertical “teeth” up to an inch long. They weren’t true teeth but actually outgrowths of the beak.
As the birds flew low over the sea, they likely hunted squid and fish, skimming them right off the water’s surface and impaling them with that scary-looking beak. The largest known species had a 21-foot wingspan, the longest wings of any bird in earth’s history.
[Great Egret Call https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/134193 :14-:20]
Bony-toothed birds ranged across the oceans and persisted for 60 million years, until just two and a half million years ago. Antarctica changed a lot in that time, from a moderate climate — surrounded by legions of enormous, snaggle-toothed birds — to the icy desert we know today.
For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.
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Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Wild Turkey Xeno Canto 586568 recorded by B. Lagerquist and Great Egret ML 134193 recorded by M. Fischer.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2021 BirdNote     Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# bony-01-2021-08-27   bony-01