Re: Brontornis again

[Ronald Orenstein <ornstn@home.com>]

At 06:05 AM 14/03/00 -0800, Jaime A. Headden wrote:
>  I've seen the jaw of *Brontornis*, this "thunder
>bird," and compared to something like *Andalgalornis*,
>it is much more wide and with robust rims, suggesting
>greater forces were applied to the sides than along
>it, or at the tip, as in many birds of prey (hence the
>narrow beaks). To me, Cristoph's suggestion of a
>bone-cracker, as in hyenas, is more plausible than a
>coconut-cracker.
>

It's hard to discuss this without knowing what the fossils look like -
however, I wonder how this compares to Diatryma, which has also been the
subject of a herbivore-carnivore controversy.  Certainly from the
description Brontornis soes not sound like an active predator (unless it
was sectioning turtles or something), and a bone-cracker is plausible, but
I am not sure that size entirely rules out herbivory (as in Diatryma).  I
assume from the point above that tugging at buried roots or tubers might
not work as an explanation as these actions would probably have exerted
forces along the length of the bill.

Of course the critter could have fooled us by being omnivorous!  And of
course there are more reasons to eat bones than to get at the marrow - even
deer will eat them for their calcium.
Ronald Orenstein
International Wildlife Coalition
(currently on vacation in Florida)