Re: Titanis

["Patrick Norton" <ptnorton@email.msn.com>]

The 6 foot estimate for Titanis is from Chandler; although other secondarily
flightless birds were apparently much larger. You may be thinking of the Moa
of New Zealand, for example, which has been estimated to stand as tall as 15
feet.  The unique thing about Titanis was not it's height, but the
modifications to the arm and hand. Moa's, and all other the extinct and
living large flightless ground birds, possess(ed) essentially vestigial
wings.  Titanis was an exception, with it's long arms and modified
hand--particularly the ball joint of metacarpal I which gave it a manus
capable of manipulating prey.

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Lavers <chris.lavers@nottingham.ac.uk>
To: dinosaur@usc.edu <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Date: Saturday, July 10, 1999 11:29 AM
Subject: Titanis


>Dear all
>
>I was interested in Patrick's mail about Titanis walleri but puzzled about
>the mention of it being six-foot tall. I have read elsewhere that they may
>have reached 3m (nineish feet). Is six feet an average? Is 3m a defensible
>maximum? Have I been misled?
>
>Best wishes
>Chris
>