Teeth marks suggest 'terror bird' was killed by reptile 13 million years ago

Terror birds could be taller than a human and had powerful legs and hooked, flesh-ripping beaks.

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Terror birds were top predators - they could be taller than a human and had powerful legs and hooked, flesh-ripping beaks.

Palaeontologists in Colombia matched teeth marks on the fossilised leg bone of one of these fearsome birds to a caiman, or a crocodile-like reptile.

3D digital scans of the bites allowed the scientists to reconstruct what they believe was a "battle to the death" that the terror bird did not survive.

The new study, published in the journal Biology Letters, compared the size and shape of the teeth marks to the skulls and teeth of crocodile-like predators in museum collections.