Giant flying turkey once roamed Australia

SYDNEY: A giant, flying turkey as tall as a kangaroo once roamed Australia, palaeontologists have reported, after an analysis of fossils and bones revealed five extinct bird species.

Ateam from Flinders University in South Australia said they were all relatives of today’s malleefowl and brush-turkeys.

The megapode birds lived during the Pleistocene era, between 1.6 million and 10,000 years ago, alongside other giant Australian animals like diprotodons and short-faced kangaroos.

Scientists had initially thought the fossils represented a single ancient bird, but fresh examination has led them to conclude they belong to five different species.

Among them was a turkey weighing up to eight kg and standing taller than a grey kangaroo, which can reach 1.3 metres.

“These discoveries are quite remarkable because they tell us that more than half of Australia’s megapodes went extinct during the Pleistocene, and we didn’t even realise it until now,” said researcher Elen Shute.

“We compared the fossils described in the 1880s and the 1970s with specimens discovered more recently, and with the benefit of new fossils, differences between species became really clear.”

The newly found birds fall into two categories — “tall turkeys” that had long, slender legs, and “nuggetty chickens” that had short legs and broad bodies.— AFP