This never gets old. Haast's eagle talon marks on the pelves of moa. Even the largest moa species weren't safe. Absolute peak bird, and one of the most interesting predatory birds, no, one of the most interesting predatory dinosaurs ever. #FossilFriday - ThreadSky

ausarchosaur.bsky.social • 99 days ago

This never gets old. Haast's eagle talon marks on the pelves of moa. Even the largest moa species weren't safe. Absolute peak bird, and one of the most interesting predatory birds, no, one of the most interesting predatory dinosaurs ever. #FossilFriday

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daspletoraptoran.bsky.social•98 days ago

Had no idea these fossils existed but holy shit it looks like a ton of force was used to make those holes, which makes sense.

rl3004.bsky.social•95 days ago

‪Giant Moa: “Not only am I the largest species of moa, but I’m also one of the largest birds of all time. Surely that means I’m safe from all forms of predation, right?”‬

‪Haast Eagle: “…”‬

‪Giant Moa: “…right?”‬

rednaxela1821.bsky.social•98 days ago

“No teeth? No problem!”

mrfusspot-3482.bsky.social•98 days ago

The only acceptable answer imo

coastalpaleo.bsky.social•98 days ago

One of the authors of the study gave a talk at Otago when I was doing my Ph.D. I asked him if the holes could have been pick marks or other damage done during the excavation (which was either several decades ago, or an entire century ago) and he didn't have a very satisfying answer

coastalpaleo.bsky.social•98 days ago

as a taphonomist I'm always very skeptical when someone sticks one fossil tooth/claw into a hole in another fossil and says "look it fits"

tetzoo.bsky.social•98 days ago

It's not a one-off though: there are over 12 moa pelves that have those marks, belonging to at least three taxa.

coastalpaleo.bsky.social•98 days ago

Yeah maybe the collectors were all clumsy as hell

swordznsorcery.bsky.social•98 days ago

Would the holes not have weathered differently? Sorry if that's an absurdly rookie question!

tetzoo.bsky.social•98 days ago

It's good, of course, to be sceptical but I don't think that this gives fair credit to the things that Holdaway considered in building the case. And were those moa specimens even collected with jabby tools anyway? Some of them were cave float, beach sand specimens or dug from swamps.

kithrup.bsky.social•98 days ago

Clearly the only way to be sure is to figure out how to jurassic park both species and see what happens.

hanssues.bsky.social•98 days ago

The arrangement of the holes appears more regular than one would expect from excavation damage.

uglyfossils.bsky.social•98 days ago

I mean, fresh breaks are a different color, it's the whole reason why we whack rocks with a rock hammer to characterize weathered vs. fresh breaks. That should have been an easy question to answer?

axelsauro.bsky.social•98 days ago

My pet theory is that eagles are just too stupid to realise they're messing with prey far too large for their own good, and somehow succeed regardless.

ausarchosaur.bsky.social•98 days ago

That literally might have been the case with one juvenile eagle taking down a monitor (IIRC) twice its size.

taissarms.bsky.social•98 days ago

@lamamala.bsky.social

lamamala.bsky.social•98 days ago

que demais

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