#dinocembere2020

[rperboni]

(Note: I am not a professional paleontologist or even biologist. I am just and amateur paleoartist and enthusiast. If my infos are off in some way, feel free to correct them ^^)

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DINOCEMBER

19 - Gastornis parisiensis (from Greek "Gaston Platé's Bird") - Paleocene to Eocene (56-45 Ma BCE) - Northern Hemisphere 

At the beginning of the Paleogene, until end of the Eocene, the Earth went through an intense greenhouse effect, being virtually without ice for 200,000 years in an event known as "Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum", covering the entire planet in tropical forests and with an average temperature 8ºC hotter than today. During this period, the birds, the only dinosaurs that survived the mass extinction to the end of the Cretaceous (66 Ma BCE), began to diversify with more intensity, occupying several vacant niches, in the same way as mammals, which would become the new "owners of the world". Before that, however, several families of birds reigned, as members of the genus Gastornis, present in Europe, China and North America. A peculiar member of the superorder Galloanserae, which includes pheasants, turkeys, peacocks, chickens, ducks and geese, present since the end of the Cretaceous, Gastornis was a large terrestrial, flightless bird, with an extremely robust body constitution, reaching up to about 2 meters in height and weighing up to 200 kg, being in many locations the largest animal present in the local fauna, which indicates that it could be virtually without predators, taking into account the size of the carnivorous mammals found in the same formations, such as Mesonyx, that was the size of a German shepherd. For a long time it was believed that the Gastornis themselves were the apex predators of their food chains, using their powerful beaks to attack small mammals in the same way that the Terror Birds did in South America. More recent studies, however, indicate that these birds were probably herbivores, without large, predator-like claws on their feet, and using their beaks to open hard seeds and fruits. Probably the replacement of forests by mosaics from open prairies and woodlands at the end of the Eocene, with sudden drops in temperature, must have contributed to the extinction of this Avian dinosaur, a relic of an older time even in its own time of existence.

- Color scheme inspired bi a Victoria Crowned Pigeon (Goura victoria) and Liam’s version.