Gastornis, the "Gaston's Bird," is
the unwanted stepchild of the
"terror birds;" though related to
fearsome predators, this two-meter-
tall bird is only a terror to 
plants. Conventional wisdom believed
gastornis to be a carnivore, but
the structure of the beak suggests
it fed on tough plant matter. Like 
other terror birds, gastornis'
skull and beak were huge compared
to the rest of its body; however,
unlike the carnivorous terror birds,
gastornis' beak lacked a raptorial 
hook. The deep lower jaw and strong 
muscles stillgave gastornis quite a 
nasty bite, which was used to crack
open nuts and seeds. Footprints 
found exhibit a distinct lack of the
hooked talons that are so popular
with its cooler, carnivorous terror 
bird friends.

Living from the Paleocene to the
Eocene Periods, gastornis' range
was far and wide across the 
woodlands of Europe, the United 
States, and China. Its earliest 
fossils hail from England, so it 
likely originated in the European 
island continent. Gastornis probably
spread to North America from the 
population in China through the 
Bering land bridge. Based on fossil 
finds, gastornis was the largest 
tetrapod on land, but size does not 
exactly intimidate plants. Though it
coexisted with herbivorous mammals,
competition with mammals is often
thought to be why they went extinct.
