The large goose to have ever take the air the Earth was probably as ferocious as you ’d expect . Standing 1.5 metre ( nearly 5 feet ) tall and weighing in at an impressive 22 kg ( 48 Irish punt ) , the souped up Mediterranean water bird was not only massive , but it hadwings tip with inured knobsthat it may have used to knock about its opponents with . As if geese were n’t terrifying enough .
Over the past millions of class , biologically speaking , the Mediterranean has been a weird place . Made up of lots of island spread across multiple archipelagos , some of the lumps of rocks were home to gnome elephants and hippos , others elephantine rats and hedgehogs . But one group of islands , in what is now central Italy , had a whole menagerie of giant birds , which grew in formidable sizing due to the lack of terrestrial predators .
The researchers suspect that the giant goose , bang scientifically asGarganornis ballmanni , lose its ability to fly due to a common island evolutionary trait where a lack of predatory animal to get away from reduces the penury for flying , and that the bird wereusing their wings for fightinginstead . This is based on the discovery of what are know as “ carpal knobs ” on the ends of the wing bones . These are heavy , rounded patch of skin find oneself on the wings , and can deliver a annihilating blow . This eccentric of battering behavior can even be found in some modern bird , such as ducks , today .
The steamer duck’s egg from Argentina and the Falkland ’s island , for example , is well known for the male person ’s strong-growing displays . But the ducks do n’t only confine their wing batterings to fellow member of the same mintage , as it has been maintain that other water bird will cursorily empty the area if a long-neck clam happens by . One report even recordsa male steamer clam violently sting and beating a shoveler duck to end , causing multiple break bones and monumental national haemorrhage . All the while , the female steamship watched on , calling and display to the male .
And that ’s just from a duck . Now imagine a 22 - kilogram goose doing something exchangeable – this Italian giant must have been jolly formidable . The most potential explanation for the twat ’s surmise sinister fight style is contention between males for territories and teammate . The research worker also paint a picture that they may have had to agitate to keep onto another vital resource , that of novel water .
The new research into the elephantine terrestrial waterfowl is published in the journalRoyal Society Open Science , and throw fresh insight into not only what the colossus goose would have look like , but as to how they may have behaved .
