Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

What is keeping my Terror Bird from being the size of a T. Rex?

+0
−0

Background

This is a Terror Bird:

Specifically, this is Titanis one of the largest of the carnivorous Phorusrhacidae; it was perhaps 2.5 meters tall and 150 kg.

I would like a terror bird that is at least 1000 kg, but it would be even better if it were more like 5000 kg; the size of a Tyrannosaurus. Fundamentally, Tyrannosaurus is more closely related to bird than it is to extant reptiles like crocodiles. Of all the birds that we know of, the terror birds come closest to matching the physical anatomy of Tyrannosaurus; that main difference being that the birds lack the heavy tail of Tyrannosaurus.

Question

Two overlapping questions:

  • Can a terror bird weighing 1000 kg survive in any modern ecosystem?

  • Can a terror bird weighing 5000 kg survive in any modern ecosystem?

Considerations

  • Modern ecosystem means anything that exists today, though assume that human hunting pressure doesn't exist so herds are plentiful.
  • A modern physical environment means current temperatures and oxygen concentrations, among other things. There is some speculation that higher oxygen levels could be related to dinosaur size. I want to be sure that a terror bird shape can bio-mechanically be extended to large enough size.
  • The terror bird must be able to survive at all sizes as it grows (at whatever rate it can) into a full sized adult.
  • Given that terror birds are probably extinct due to competition with modern modern predators, assume that the terror bird can successfully compete with modern carnivores (lions, etc).
  • Do not assume that a terror bird can catch modern herbivores (can it catch a horse?) This an important part of the question.
History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/124928. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

0 comment threads

0 answers

Sign up to answer this question »