This fearsome bird is thought to be one of the descendants of the dinosaurs.

Meaning of scientific name
"Gaston's bird" - named after Gaston Planti who found the first remains.

Pronunciation of scientific name
gas-TOR-niss

Statistics
1.75m tall.

Physical description
Birds are now generally considered to be all that remains of the once much more diverse dinosaurs, and this huge, heavily built bird certainly looks like a worthy descendant. Its bones show it was very sturdily built and had an incredibly powerful hatchet-like beak.

Distribution
Their fossils are common at the site of Geiseltal, Germany and in the USA.

Habitat
Gastornis lived on the forest floor in the great expanses of rainforest which covered the land in the Eocene.

Diet
They were carnivorous hunters and scavengers.

Behaviour
Gastornis was one of the largest animals around at the time, and because of its size and heavy build it can't have been a fast runner. It is thought to have been a predator, because its beak would have been far too powerful simply for crushing nuts (however big!) or vegetation. It must have been an ambusher.

Conservation status
Extinct.

Notes
Diatryma is a name often used for Gastornis, and is the name given to it in the US. The two are the same, and the name Gastornis is older and so is considered more accurate.

History
They lived 56-41 million years ago.

Closest relative
Its group died out, but Gastornis is from the family which includes moorhens (Gruiformes).