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Science Quickly

This Thunderous Goose Relative Was Built like a Tank with the Wings of a Songbird

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.2639 Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Officially, these prehistoric birds are the dromornithids, but everyone who studies them calls them thunderbirds—and for good reason. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

0:05.8

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.

0:11.0

Yachtold also partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for gut health, an investigator-led research program.

0:20.1

To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.j.p.

0:23.9

That's y-A-K-U-L-T dot-C-O-J-P.

0:28.4

When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on YacL.

0:32.2

They are very unlike a bird that you typically think of sitting at a bird feeder.

0:38.6

You know, definitely not that kind of bird.

0:45.8

I'm Flora Lichten with Scientific Americans Science Quickly.

0:50.1

Today, episode three of our four-part fascination on really big birds.

0:55.7

We're going on a gargantuan goose chase.

0:59.6

I love talking about these big birds because most people think ostrich and they think that's big.

1:06.2

But actually, they were real giants around at one time.

1:10.7

This is Anusia Chinami-Turan of the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

1:15.3

And she's talking about the Dramornethids.

1:18.0

That's their scientific name.

1:19.9

But in big bird circles, you'll hear them called Thunderbirds.

1:25.3

Their name the Thunderbirds is really quite wonderful because kind of immediately you can

1:31.7

understand these really large animals coming.

1:35.0

Thunderbirds lived in Australia and they had a long run.

1:38.0

The earliest members of the group date back 50 million years or so and one species persisted

1:43.1

to about 40,000 years ago.

...

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