Ornimegalonyx- The biggest owl of all time.
Ornimegalonyx
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| Image courtesy- Haris javed |
Name meaning: Ornimegalonyx (Bird giant claw)
The Cuban giant owl or Ornimegalonyx is an extinct species of giant owl that lived on the islands of Cuba during the late Pleistocene period (126,000 - 11,7000 years ago).It is the largest owl species ever existed.
Ornimegalonyx,was first identified by Oscar Arrendonto in 1954.He thought that Ornimegalonyx was a small genus of terror birds as the remains were relatively large for an owl(estimated avg.height-3 feet 7 inches).Later in 1961, Pierce Brodkarb re-examined the bones and found that the bones belonged to a giant land-dwelling owl.
Ornimegalonyx remains have only been discovered in Cuba, but in abundance (3 almost complete skeletons have been found till date), indicating that the species was native to island of Cuba.
Ornimegalonyx skeleton by Wikimedia Commons
The Cuban giant owl had long strong legs,short tail and wings which indicates that it was a land-dwelling creature,which was nearly incapable of flight(probably capable of short bursts of flight).Female owls♀️were larger than the males♂️.
Cuban giant owl was probably an ambush predators.Its legs and feet appear to be powerful and well-built, which would have been useful for chasing prey as well as killing it by delivering lethal blows to the prey's head(a tactic used by today's secretary birds).
Researchers believe that Ornimegalonyx would have preyed on large rodents (Heteropsomys,Copromys,Geocapromys) and prehistoric ground sloths(Miocnus,Megalocnus).
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