Ornimegalonyx
(Also known as ‘The Cuban Giant Owl’ & ‘Giant Cursorial Owl’)
Name:
Ornimegalonyx
(Bird giant claw).
Phonetic: Or-ni-meg-ah-lon-ix.
Named By: Oscar Arredondo - 1954.
Classification: Chordata, Aves, Strigiformes,
Strigidae.
Species: O. oteroi (type),
O.
minor, O. gigas, O. acevedoi.
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: 1.1 meters tall, at least 9 kilograms
in weight.
Known locations: Cuba.
Time period: Tarantian of the Pleistocene to early
Hologene.
Fossil representation: Many sets of remains, some
almost complete.
The
sheer size of the first remains along with their proportions initially
led to the identification that Ornimegalonyx was a
phorusrhacid
‘terror bird’ similar to the smaller members of that group such as
Psilopterus.
This classification continued until 1961 when Pierce
Brodkorb correctly identified the remains as that of a large ground
dwelling owl (two years later Brodkorb would identify Titanis,
the
first phorusrhacid from North America).
Ornimegalonyx
is thought to have used its long and powerful legs to chase after prey
rather than flying. This behaviour would see Ornimegalonyx
hunting
for small to medium sized mammals, particularly large rodents that
are common to Central American Islands. Ornimegalonyx
would likely
use its powerful feet and claws to strike out at its prey and cause
fatal injuries to the spine, neck and face. These areas are often
targeted for attack by owls that fly, the idea being to incapacitate
their prey so that it cannot escape should the first attack not prove
fatal.
Ornimegalonyx
may not have limited itself to just running after its prey, but may
have also used what is termed a pouncing strategy. This hunting
behaviour would involve Ornimegalonyx taking up a
position above the
forest floor and waiting for prey to approach beneath. Ornimegalonyx
could just hop off its perch and drop down, perhaps holding out its
wings to both slow down and steer its descent for a precision strike on
its unsuspecting prey.
Even
though the wings are greatly reduced in size, Ornimegalonyx
may have
still been capable of limited bursts of flight. The keel of the
breast bone while reduced would still allow for some development of the
flight muscles that in other birds allowed for powered flight.
Ornimegalonyx may have used its long legs to spring
itself up into the
air and then flap its wings to slow its descent and extend the range of
the jump. This way Ornimegalonyx may have been
able to take up
positions off the floor where it could rest as well as hunt for food.
Further reading
- The Great Predatory Birds of the Pleistocene of Cuba. - Smithsonian
Contributions to Paleobiology number 27, pp. 169-187. - Oscar Arredondo
- 1982.
- Los Strigiformes f�siles del pleistoceno cubano. - Bolet�n de la
Sociedad Venezolana de Ciencias Naturales 140, 33-55. - Oscar Arredondo
- 1982.
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