Andrew Davis> Millions of years ago, the largest flying bird in world history once graced the skies of prehistoric South Carolina!

Matthew Gibson> Since they were able to kind of lock their wings into position they could fly over the ocean for long periods of time without really exerting a whole lot of energy.

So a lot of their time was basically just hang gliding over the Atlantic Ocean looking for something to eat.

Davis> South Carolina boasts a rich biodiversity.

In the present day, over 400 bird species can be found in the Palmetto State.

The Charleston Museum's Natural History exhibit spotlights many examples of birds commonly found in our region, and even a few examples of birds now extinct.

One ancient bird skeleton in particular can be found hanging from the ceiling in the exhibit.

Between its massive wingspan and the spikey beak, this ancient bird catches museum visitors in awe.

What was this massive Lowcountry avifauna?

This is Pelagornis sandersi, the largest bird capable of flight ever known in world history.

I'm your host, Andrew Davis!

Today's Curiosity Trek!

takes us down to the Charleston Museum in Charleston, South Carolina.

From Columbia, it takes a couple of hours to arrive at our destination.

Curator of Natural History Matthew Gibson joins us to fly through the history of this unique seabird.

Gibson> My name is Matthew Gibson, and I'm the Curator of Natural History here at the Charleston Museum.

Davis> Hey, Matt, thanks for joining us once again on Curiosity Trek!

Gibson> Well, thanks for having me!

Davis> Now, what time period or years was the Pelagornis seabird alive?

Gibson> So Pelagornis has a relatively long fossil record.

But our specific species is an Oligocene species, and it probably lived somewhere around 25 million years ago.

All birds are actually related to dinosaurs.

They're all modern descendants.

They come off the branch of the dinosaur family tree known as the theropod branch, which includes things like Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor.

Davis> Is the Pelagornis related to any modern seabirds now?

Gibson> It's more closely related to our modern birds, and most modern research puts it somewhere near where geese and ducks fall on the bird family tree.

Davis> What would you say was the average lifespan of the Pelagornis?

Gibson> So most birds you're probably looking at 10 to 12 years perhaps, but we're not really sure about Pelagornis.

We only have a couple individuals and Some of the fossils we find are pretty incomplete, so we're not even quite sure of how long the Pelagornis's sort of life cycle would have been.

On average, despite having that very wide wingspan?

It would have weighed a lot less than you would expect.

Birds have to weigh less to be able to, you know, take to the air.

Estimates put it somewhere between 50-80 pounds so around the weight of a large dog.

Pelagornis was sort of a cavity nester or a cliff nester.

So more than likely it was not breeding here in South Carolina.

Most likely it was traveling across the Atlantic and maybe nesting somewhere, like, in the UK or in other areas.

Fossils for Pelagornis have been found along the coast of the Atlantic on either sides of it.

So there have been Pelagornis from Europe, I believe there might have been some from Africa and I know there have been some from Antarctica.

Davis> What did they typically eat?

Gibson> So, like our modern albatross, they kind of were skimming off the surface of the ocean.

So they were most likely picking up fish as well as small cephalopods like squid.

Davis> The most eye-catching features of the Pelagornis sandersi are its incredibly long wingspan, as well as these spikes found on the beak.

Despite looking like teeth, they are not teeth at all!

Gibson> Our estimates based off the skeleton that was discovered in Charleston.

The skeletal wing length is around 21ft.

But once you start tacking on the flight feathers, which were not preserved as fossils, you're probably looking at more like 24ft.

They would have spent most of their time gliding on ocean air currents, scouring for food.

And since they were able to kind of lock their wings into position they could fly over the ocean for long periods of time without really exerting a whole lot of energy.

So a lot of their time was basically just hang gliding over the Atlantic Ocean looking for something to eat.

Pelagornis is known as a "Pseudodontorn" or a false-toothed bird, and they have these raised, spike like projections that come off their beak that superficially look like teeth.

They're just more like just spikes.

And they would have used those to spear prey that was particularly slippery.

So, like I mentioned, squid those, once they got those in its mouth, they would really not be able to escape.

The other interesting thing is it has a ball and socket joint in its lower jaw that would allow it to expand its lower jaw larger so it could swallow things whole.

Sort of like a pelican.

Davis> For a seabird having such a massive wingspan, how is the Pelagornis sandersi able to achieve flight?

Unlike most other birds which flap their wings from a standstill position, The Pelagornis sandersi either had to run downhill into a headwind, or simply launch from a cliff using gravity and coastal winds, not unlike a hang glider.

Davis> Now, did the Pelagornis have any natural predators?

Gibson> Not really.

At least not that we know of.

But there were some instances where it could be preyed on by something else.

Even though it was a very capable flier, it couldn't easily take off or probably not even capable of taking off from the ocean.

So if at any point it was downed, it would have been prey for things like, hyper predatory whales like Xenorophus, and Ankylorhiza as well as saltwater crocodiles like Thecachampsa.

Davis> All formally recognized animal species have a Latin or scientific name.

The designation Pelagornis sandersi has a surprisingly direct link with Charleston!

Now, what does the name Pelagornis mean in Latin?

Where did that name come from?

Gibson> That's actually a kind of funny story.

So, Pelagornis has probably one of the least creative scientific names.

It basically translates to pelagic marine bird, or basically a marine bird that lives over the ocean.

Pelagornis sandersi is a specific species of Pelagornis.

There's only been one described and only from Charleston, South Carolina.

And is named for the previous curator of the Charleston Museum, Al Sanders.

There's a lot of different reasons why you would name a species after a person.

And he didn't describe it, he was one of the first people to help dig it out of the ground.

Another fun story: Our particular Pelagornis, so Pelagornis sandersi, was uncovered during expansion of the Charleston Airport.

So we actually collected the largest bird ever found, or at least largest wingspan from an airport!

Davis> Now, where are most Pelagornis fossils found in South Carolina?

Gibson> You can find them all along the coast.

They are very rare fossil.

Bird fossils are rare to begin with.

Bird bones are hollow.

They tend to break up easily, so finding a complete or even semi complete skeleton is pretty unheard of.

Most of the Pelagornis fossils that are found in the state are actually just singular small fragments of the beak.

Ours is actually the most complete Pelagornis discovered here.

In South Carolina, Pelagornis fossils are found in a formation known as the Chandler Bridge Formation which is approximately 25-28 million years old.

All the other fossils that are found in conjunction with it are all marine.

So we know that in places where the Chandler Bridge is exposed, you're dealing with environments that would have had been beneath the ocean.

So we find whale fossils, we find sea turtles and a lot of shelled organisms.

Due to that warmer climate there was less glacial ice at the poles, which is partially or maybe even exclusively why sea levels were significantly higher during that time period.

So now if we were to take that climate from the past and kind of scale it to now, we actually would be standing beneath the ocean.

Davis> The last birds of Genus Pelagornis died out around 2.5 million years ago, during the Early Pleistocene Era.

The causes for Pelagornis sandersi's disappearance remain a mystery.

Gibson> So we're not 100% sure what led to its specific extinction.

One generic rule for large bodied animals is they're very specific to their role in their environment or their niche, and even a small change in the environment, say, slight changes in temperature and climate, changes in coastlines could have put enough pressure that led to its eventual extinction.

The most interesting thing that I think that, our Pelagornis says is it kind of gives us sort of a story of this animal's sort of last moments.

And what's really interesting about ours is we actually have our skeleton preserved on one side.

So we have the whole skull, and then we have the right side, but we're missing the left side, which suggests that when this bird died, most likely it fell partially, into some soft ocean sediment.

That preserved side was buried, and then the other side was scavenged.

Pelagornis is a very rare snapshot, not only in the fact that it's like a bird, which is hard to preserve to begin with, but we have enough of the skeleton that we can mirror it, know exactly how the organism looked.

Davis> Once again, thank you for taking the time to meet with us today on Curiosity Trek!, and I hope that our fellow students will have learned something interesting today.

Gibson> I hope so!

I can't wait to meet you guys again next time.

Davis> Take care, Matt.

Now that we have the full story behind this magnificent ancient seabird, we can consider ourselves lucky that such a rare specimen has been preserved at the Charleston Museum.

If you are able to come visit and see this bird for yourself, the flight to Charleston would be worth it.

I'm Andrew Davis.

Take care and we'll see you next time on Curiosity Trek!