Ancient caiman might have preyed on one other apex predator—the enormous ‘terror chook’

The La Venta fossil website in Colombia is dwelling to a wealthy fossil document, yielding a very various set of vertebrate fossil assemblages. The large terror chook (phorusrhacid) and caiman—a big crocodile-like reptile—have been recognized to be two of the apex predators roaming this area throughout the center Miocene epoch. Although the phobia chook was a terrestrial predator and the caiman was an aquatic predator, new proof exhibits that they sometimes crossed paths, and that these conferences didn’t go nicely for the phobia chook.

A brand new research, published in Biology Letters, particulars the evaluation of a terror chook’s leg bone, which was discovered to have a set of tooth marks that resulted within the chook’s dying. Until this discovering, there had been little proof that these predators ever interacted with one another. However, the research authors word that terrestrial and aquatic predators might have met at sure instances.

“Terrestrial apex predators may preferentially wander close to water sources—especially in dry seasons—as these areas may set an ideal scenario for terrestrial predators to feed on aquatic taxa, or to attempt to prey on other taxa obliged to drink water from water sources. Thus, aquatic predators can prey on terrestrial vertebrates—including apex predators—as they approach water sources, similar to what is known from aquatic water holes in Africa,” the researchers write.

The fossilized bone of the phobia chook was discovered with 4 distinct tooth marks. The researchers analyzed the marks utilizing 3D floor scanning and digital modeling and located them to most carefully match a caiman species referred to as Purussaurus neivensis, a species which was native to the La Venta space across the similar time the phobia chook existed.

The tooth marks confirmed no indicators of therapeutic, that means the phobia chook died across the time of the encounter. However, the researchers word that it is potential that the chunk may have occurred after the dying of the chook, as a scavenging occasion reasonably than direct predation. Either means, it was clear that the phobia chook didn’t go on to stay after the encounter.

The frequency of apex predator encounters like this stays unknown, and there’s nonetheless some uncertainty round whether or not the reptile was a Purussaurus neivensis or one other comparable species. Still, this discovering offers a uncommon glimpse into the complicated world of prehistoric ecosystems and predator-prey dynamics, displaying that even large terror birds could be topic to assaults from different predators.

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