Pelagornithids: The Largest Flying Birds

Please enjoy this video examining the Pelagornithids, a once highly successful lineage of seabirds that developed into the largest (although perhaps not the heaviest) flying avians to ever live. With a complex mixture of anatomical traits that have make them difficult to classify, the Pelagornithids thrived until the global climatic upheavals of the Late Miocene and Pliocene. With their large size and probable slow rate of reproduction, these birds died out by the Early Pleistocene.
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[@rafaelcalderabebber1198]

It is really impressive how fast birds occupied the niches of pterosaurs

[@cro-magnoncarol4017]

You have to remember, there were mammals already reaching the size of Black Bears a few hundred thousand years after the K-T mass extinction.

[@1998topornik]

Life finds a way.

[@andrewbroeker9819]

Not especially? Niches get filled in quickly (geologically speaking) after every mass extinction

[@AnnoyingNewsletters]

Birds are the Swiss army knives of the vertebrates, like how arthropods are for the invertebrates.

[@canis2020]

Birds in general are impressive. Somehow fragile yet there's the goose.

[@TheAnimalKingdom-tq3sz]

Argentavis: *commonly known as the largest flying extinct bird* Pelagornis: I'm gonna pretend I didn't see that

[@beastmaster0934]

Argentavis is still heavier.

[@keithtorgersen9664]

@TheAnimalKingdom, that’s what I was wondering about.

[@Loris71734]

Yeah Pelagornis is not bigger. It has a larger wingspan which is like judging human size off armspan instead of body mass or volume

[@dolsopolar]

​@@beastmaster0934 by that then kori bustard is the largest flying bird

[@carlosalbuquerque22]

You forgot to mention they were thermal soarers like frigatebirds and unlike the dynamic soaring albatrosses

[@mountebank5034]

I was literally just researching Pelagornithids an hour before this uploaded. This video was better than any of the websites on them. WOW.

[@ericknorskr8568]

gotta read scientific papers if you want reliable info. I highly reccomend it! Some have an somewhat not begginer friendly grammar, but not all

[@jeanettemarkley7299]

Your videos are a bit over my head, but I follow as best I can. I love to learn about animals past and present. I like to learn a lot of things. thank you for the videos.

[@EAIOIAE]

Glad you made this video on this often overlooked group of birds! Excited to learn more obscure, niche groups that no one talks about! Keep it coming! :-)

[@dudotolivier6363]

Pelagornithid and Pelagornis are among my favorite prehistoric animals and birds. And this video give them a lot of recognition and tribute. Large and majestic beast roaming the sky above the infinite and flat seas ; dire albatross that were expressively serious, grumpy, aggressive and scary looking with their very unusual and almost unique beak which made them directly reconizable. Fish and Cephalopods eating birds which coexisted and died along the famous Megalodon, the biggest shark, marine predators and carnivores the Earth have ever see. Successfull, thriving and long lived birds with existed from most of the Cenozoïc itself worlwide, both at all the North Equator and South Equator. In warm to cold areas. From Coasts, to open-seas, to islands where they reproduced at the complete safety from any kind of predators. Truly birds and extincts animals which deserved attention and recognition mote than paleomedias give them usually, for the odd yet hugely fascinating and proud creatures they were.

[@mhdfrb9971]

As with albatrosses, pelagornithids had very long and slender wings for dynamic soaring on wind deflected off waves; in fact they were even more specialized for this than albatrosses (which already depend on it for most of their flight), to the extent that the larger pelagornithids like P. chilensis and P. sandersi had very poor flapping capability. It is possible that these birds were nearly or even completely incapable of powered flight, relying on gliding and dynamic soaring to travel through the air. This really wouldn't have been much of an issue, as studies indicate pelagornithids, especially the larger ones, were extremely well-suited to gliding and dynamic soaring, which would have been enough as long as they were in flight out at sea (which they were for most of their lifespans). Aside from their wingspan, the other notable thing about these birds is their pseudoteeth, fang-like projections that lined the length of their beaks. While a predatory adaptation for seizing fish and squid, they were not heavily reinforced and thus wouldn’t enable pelagornithids to handle prey closer to themselves in size (unlike some modern seabirds like the giant petrels, which can kill adult emperor penguins and albatrosses).

[@astrogecko1650]

Another great upload by everyone's favourite basal Polarisidae

[@joakos1122]

Love your work Dr.Polaris!!

[@Alberad08]

Very interesting topic - thanks a lot for dealing here with this!

[@jamesolivier5224]

Fascinating!

[@Astrapionte]

Are you in my head or something lol? The vids you make often occur coincidentally with what I draw!! 😂 A few weeks ago , I did a Pelagornis!

[@dr.polaris6423]

Just a happy coincidence!

[@Astrapionte]

@@dr.polaris6423right! Feel free to use my art in your vids (with credit, of course!). Love your channel!

[@thedarkmasterthedarkmaster]

Amazing video

[@cosmo6122]

I love this channel

[@donhillsmanii5906]

NEW DR !!

[@TrajGreekFire]

I wonder if on one of the sunken islands there were flightless predatory members of these group

[@gattycroc8073]

remember when I said that I wanted to see more animated paleo media like Land Before Time and Ice Age with the creatures talking and having personalities. well, I would absolutely love to see a scene where a Pelagornithid is flying over the landscape similar to the Pterosaur in the opening of Disney's Dinosaur.

[@theprehistorichubert9448]

I'm pretty sure that argentavis was heavier and therefore bigger Other than that I gotta say that I enjoyed learning about these birds and was blown away by their wingspans and '' teeth ''

[@dr.polaris6423]

Rather than bigger, perhaps longer would be more appropriate. Argentavis was certainly a good 30kg heavier than Pelagornis, but with shorter, wider wings.

[@TanupatDoStuffs]

06:50 Jesus that actually startled me a bit lmao

[@Manwendlil]

is that the hozen-theme music from mists of pandaria?

[@1998topornik]

I am suprised that we don't refer to them as "dire albatrosses" or something like that.

[@bustavonnutz]

A disruption to breeding colonies could've had a massive effect on the global populations of these birds if they're anything like their modern relatives. The collapse of only a few of their more sizable colonies could've led to the terminal decline in their population numbers; a fate shared by many seabirds that have gone extinct or nearly so in the modern day. The Bermuda & Hawaiian Petrel are excellent examples of what can happen to a seabird species with millions of individuals when even just two or three large colonies become disrupted.

[@SnubbyDaArtist]

I love these kinds of videos, the narration and simple forms for videos make it neat for my little caveman brain. :)

[@nicholasmaude6906]

Would you agree, Dr. Polaris, with Dr. Robert Bakker's suggestion in his 1986 book "The Dinosaur Heresies" that the class "Aves" should be redesigned "Dinoaves" as birds ARE dinosaurs?

[@MastodonMann]

Are there any more brands under MidnightSun Productions?

[@westongarner-qo2ez]

527th like!👍 Awesome video!🤘 Keep up the awesome work!🤘😎🤘

[@kamnale1317]

0:58 are you sure the neornithes was a previously rare group? Their very close relatives, "the Enantiornithes, also known as enantiornithines or enantiornitheans in literature, are a group of extinct avialans ("birds" in the broad sense), the most abundant and diverse group known from the Mesozoic era." OFC they had a diversification boom afterwards, but it seems to me they were doing just fine before too.

[@ekosubandie2094]

I think the context of "rare" here is more about the scarcity of definitive Mesozoic Neornithes fossils like Vegavis rather than the clade itself being rare at that time

[@hailgiratinathetruegod7564]

Why is the audio so funky ?

[@Dylan-Hooton]

When will cryptids return?

[@HassanMohamed-rm1cb]

Hey Dr.Polaris, why don't you also get to make a suggestion to create the KZbin Videos Shows about the evolution and the history of the Extinct Prehistoric Primitive Ancestors Of The Modern Birds called the Ornithothoraces, such as Enantiornithes, and Euornithes in the next couple of weeks to think about that one coming up next?!👍👍👍👍👍⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@michaelbruns449]

So did dinosaurs evolve into birds? or did dinosaurs not evolve into birds?

[@saurianakanyansaber3900]

Neither. All modern birds are considered theropods, and as such are a group of dinosaurs. Now whether or not that should make them reptiles is another debate but that should answer your question.

[@HassanMohamed-rm1cb]

Hey Dr.Polaris, why don't you also get to make a suggestion to create the KZbin Videos Shows about the evolution and the history of the Extinct Prehistoric Primitive Ancestors Of The Modern Birds called the Ornithothoraces in the next couple of weeks to think about that one coming up next?!👍👍👍👍👍⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@user-some_failure]

Man I wish giant terrifying teeth bird's still existed

[@Eye_Exist]

bit off topic but it's curious that bats have never evolved into gigantic sizes. there could easily be a bat species who specialized hunting different sizes of birds and small ground animals.

[@baneofbanes]

Birds already occupy those niches.

[@tikaalik]

I have to wonder if there is a size limit based on the nature or the wing membranes. They seem a lot more delicate than pterosaur membranes.

[@Eye_Exist]

@@baneofbanes oversimplification. we are talking about vast amounts of different types of food and unique physique between birds and bats, allowing different niches to form. similarly to so many bird species feeding off on the same insects and fruits than bats do.

[@asmrgreaseball]

I guess it's important to note how recently bats evolved flight compared to birds and pterosaurs

[@andyjay729]

@@baneofbanes Also, birds' "one-way" respiratory systems are much more efficient than mammals', which allowed them to reach such huge sizes while still being able to fly. Mammals' "two-way" respiratory systems could only let bats grow so large and still be able to fly.

[@HassanMohamed-rm1cb]

Hey Dr.Polaris, right after the evolution and the history of the Therocephalians, why don't you also get to make a suggestion to create the KZbin Videos Shows about the evolution and the history of the Extinct Prehistoric Primitive Ancestors Of The Modern Birds called the Ornithothoraces, such as Enantiornithes, and Euornithes in the next couple of weeks to think about that one coming up next?!👍👍👍👍👍⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@posticusmaximus1739]

Dinosaurs strike back in the air!

[@waydebain9672]

Man why is it that all the cool creatures are extinct 😑

[@HassanMohamed-rm1cb]

Hey Dr.Polaris, right after the evolution and the history of the Therocephalians, why don't you also get to make a suggestion to create the KZbin Videos Shows about the evolution and the history of the Extinct Prehistoric Primitive Ancestors Of The Modern Birds called the Ornithothoraces in the next couple of weeks to think about that one coming up next?!👍👍👍👍👍⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@madsgrams2069]

I mean..."largest" is a relative term here. Most teratorns, especially Argentavis, weighed much more than these very gracile birds. The difference is just in the wingspan.

[@hunterG60k]

Did anyone else see the picture of the vomiting bird and suddenly realise where the stories of fire breathing dragons may have come from??

[@stevielease7952]

Something to think about. Albatross chicks will vomit on a threatening predator,,and it stinks to highest heaven. Yuck.

[@richardnicklin654]

A dinosaur which evolved into a U-2.

[@gzilla783]

Wait, wasn't the Argentavis the largest?

[@An_Actual_Rat]

Argentavis has shorter wingspan, but is heavier

[@gzilla783]

@@An_Actual_Rat thanks for clarifying that.

[@takenname8053]

Pseudo-teeth are interesting.

[@IanPendleton-gh6ox]

While I loved the video, there's something that I feel like I need to point out. You mentioned the basal genus Protodontopteryx, but whenever you mention its name you call it Prodontopteryx, a genus that doesn't exist as far as I know. I really hope you see this comment. I did love this video, I hope I didn't come across as too critical, but hearing a name get repeatedly mispronounced like that always annoys me, especially when it comes from someone who's normally much better at getting names right.

[@williamkelly9628]

Argentavis is the largest ever flying bird.

[@barbararice6650]

Sudo-teeth birds 😆