Gastornis, the "Gaston's Bird," is
the unwanted stepchild of the
"terror birds." Although it super-
ficially looks like the fearsome
predators, it was more closely
related to modern waterfowl. This 
two-meter-tall bird is only a terror
to plants! Originally Gastornis was
thought to be a carnivore, but the
structure of the beak suggests it 
fed on tough plant matter. However,
like the terror birds, Gastornis'
skull and beak were huge compared
to the rest of its body, though it
lacked a raptorial hook on its beak.
Its deep lower jaw and strong 
muscles still gave it a nasty bite, 
which was used to crack open nuts 
and seeds. Footprints of Gastornis 
exhibit a distinct lack of the
hooked talons that were so popular
among the cooler terror birds.

Living from the Paleocene to the
Eocene Periods, Gastornis' range
was far and wide across the 
woodlands of Europe, the United 
States, and China. Its earliest 
fossils hail from England, where
it was the largest tetropod on land.
It likely originated there before
spreading to China and then North 
America via the Bering land bridge. 
Though it coexisted with herbivorous 
mammals called pantodonts, 
competition with mammals is often 
thought to be the reason why they
went extinct.
