Scientists have revealed that the largest bird to have ever lived on Earth has a wingspan of around 24 feet, which equates to that of a small plane.
The wingspan of the new species, Pelagornis sandersi, is estimated to have a wingspan of between 20 and 24 feet, which included the feathers. Scientists claim that the wingspan of Pelagornis sandersi is more than two times the size of any living bird on the planet as the royal albatross, which is currently the largest flying living bird on Earth, has a wingspan of around 11.4 feet.
"It's a really remarkable species," said study author Daniel Ksepka, a paleontologist and curator of science at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut. "It really pushes the limits of how big we think flying birds can get. Getting a chance to add something like this to the avian evolutionary tree is really exciting."
Scientists say that until now, the largest known bird on Earth that could fly was the Argentavis magnificens, a condor-like titan from Argentina, which is now extinct. However, scientists dispute about the wingspan of Argentavis. Ksepka says that the skeleton of Argentavis' wings was slightly less than 13.1 feet (4 meters). On the other hand, the wing skeleton of Pelagornis sandersi is about 17 feet (5.2 meters). Even though the wingspan of both the birds will increase with the addition of features, the Pelagornis sandersi would most likely be bigger than the Argentavis.
Construction workers who were working in the vicinity of Charleston, South Carolina, to build an additional terminal for the Charleston International Airport found the fossil of Pelagornis sandersi in 1983. The new species was given the name Pelagornis sandersi to honor Albert Sanders, the former curator of the Charleston Museum, who headed team that was responsible for the excavation of the fossil from the construction site.
Scientists were able to dig out several leg and wing bones as well as a complete skull of the bird. The fossil is well preserved enough though they are highly fragile in nature. The beak of the extinct bird had toothlike spikes. The bird is said to have lived on the planet around 25 to 28 million years ago when Earth's planet was far warmer than what it is today. The place where the fossil of Pelagornis sandersi was discovered may have been under water during the time.
Ksepka suggests that the bird must have weighted in between 48.2 pounds to 88.4 pounds (21.9 kg to 40.1 kg). The researchers say that despite the gigantic size of the Pelagornis sandersi, the bird was able to take flight and stay aloft in the sky.
