Scientists discover largest bird ever flew

The fossilized remains of the biggest bird ever flew were discovered in 1983 in Charleston, South Carolina, but now scientists came to a conclusion: the pelagomis sandersi, who walked the planet Earth for 25 million years ago, was the largest bird ever flew.

With a magnitude of 6.4 metres, this bird's wings had twice the size of the wings of the largest flying birds today, including the albatross, with 3.5 meters long. In theory, this bird's wings were big enough to defend a football goal, from a pole to the other.

The pelagornis sandersi was extremely fast and flying at a speed of 17 meters per second. Had sharp pseudo-dentes, used to cut their prey, and could fly to distant destinations without losing altitude, according to Mashable.

"This raises the limit of what we believe the birds can be," said the author of the study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Daniel Ksepka.

Ksepka, science curator and palaeontologist of the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, United States, also said that this is a very important step to realize the evolution of birds. The study of this species, however, is still at the beginning â€" among many other issues, it is still necessary to figure out how this bird could move with such grace.

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