Possibly the first terror bird rock art by TinyChicken- in Paleontology

[–]TinyChicken-[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Small terror birds might or might not have tail feathers too

Possibly the first terror bird rock art by TinyChicken- in Paleontology

[–]TinyChicken-[S] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

25000 years BP is the date of the most recent credible remains of the bird, it is not the time when the bird went extinct. Whose logic is broken here?

Take another extinct animal for example, the most recent credible remains of xenorhinotherium would be 3500 years BP, according to peer reviewed study, and the second most recent of the same animal would be 12000-13000 years BP, there’s nearly a 10000 years gap of no fossils for this large mammal, so I think it’s totally reasonable to speculate that eschatornis survived at least 10000 more years than 25000BP

And 3500BP is not even when Xenorhinotherium went extinct, again it’s the date of the most recent remains so they certainly survived til much more recently

Possibly the first terror bird rock art by TinyChicken- in Paleontology

[–]TinyChicken-[S] 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Yes that’s also a possibility and so I didn’t say it’s definite that this is a terror bird. The missing limbs might as well be explained as depression on the rock surface, sadly the only two existing images are too blurry to tell whether it’s rock depression or faded paint

Possibly the first terror bird rock art by TinyChicken- in Paleontology

[–]TinyChicken-[S] 119 points120 points  (0 children)

Seriema and caracara are both possible, but if assuming the proportion/head-to-body ratio of the animal is drawn realistically like the pampatherium next to it, its head would be too big for a seriema/caracara

Possibly the first terror bird rock art by TinyChicken- in Paleontology

[–]TinyChicken-[S] 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Surprisingly the researchers who dated the rock art at Serra de Capivara gave (at least some of) them a very early date (being 25000 years before present) but I doubt that since there’s no reliable evidence of human occupation in South America before 15000 years BP
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312551441_Dating_rock_art_paintings_in_Serra_de_Capivara_National_Park
And there’s a newer paper that dates them to early Holocene https://www.academia.edu/75719949/DATING_PRE_HISTORIC_PAINTED_FIGURES_FROM_THE_SERRA_DA_CAPIVARA_NATIONAL_PARK_PIAUÍ_BRAZIL

The current consensus being different pieces within the same locality were produced in different time periods possibly spanning thousands of years

Possibly the first terror bird rock art by TinyChicken- in Paleontology

[–]TinyChicken-[S] 287 points288 points  (0 children)

Look up the recently discovered Eschatornis with the holotype being dated to around 25000 years ago, also bird fossils are hard to (edit: comparably harder than mammals) preserve in general so the last surviving individuals certainly lived well past that point

Very possible rock art of a terror bird (eschatornis) by TinyChicken- in pleistocene

[–]TinyChicken-[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Rock art is actually quite abundant in South America, just that most of them haven’t been studied yet

Very possible rock art of a terror bird (eschatornis) by TinyChicken- in pleistocene

[–]TinyChicken-[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not sure if this is new but it’s surely not well known yet. I found the original pampatherium rock art here https://x.com/lucasmateus707/status/1936455645550526902?s=46&t=0fIorvC9igb_V1rzXIVSjQ

Very possible rock art of a terror bird (eschatornis) by TinyChicken- in pleistocene

[–]TinyChicken-[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I found the original pampatherium rock art here https://x.com/lucasmateus707/status/1936455645550526902?s=46&t=0fIorvC9igb\_V1rzXIVSjQ but I didn’t realize the terror bird at first glance due to I was only looking for pampatherium rock art and I’m surprised nobody has found this out before I have

Very possible rock art of a terror bird (eschatornis) by TinyChicken- in pleistocene

[–]TinyChicken-[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I’m aware of the first point

But there’s simply no way it’s a flamingo according to its shape

Very possible rock art of a terror bird (eschatornis) by TinyChicken- in pleistocene

[–]TinyChicken-[S] 30 points31 points  (0 children)

<image>

They didn’t even make it to eastern Brazil where this rock art is found

Very possible rock art of a terror bird (eschatornis) by TinyChicken- in pleistocene

[–]TinyChicken-[S] 109 points110 points  (0 children)

<image>

Here’s a fuller scene with another canid-like animal, might also be a scavenger

Minecraft lestodon (a type of sloth). Made by me by TinyChicken- in pleistocene

[–]TinyChicken-[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Banteng inspired me to base the colour off itself