Gastornis

Gastornis is a large flightless bird that lived in the Late Paleocene to Early Eocene. The name Diatryma is a synoynm of this genus.

Description
Gastornis stood about 2 meters tall, high enough to look a person in the eye. It had a very large beak (though lacking the distinctive hook that "terror birds" had) and long, powerful legs.

Classification
Gastornis, despite its large size, is currently believed to be an anseriform, in the group that includes ducks and geese. There are four known species: G. parisiensis, G. giganteus, G. sarasini, and G. russeli.

History
Gastornis was named in 1855 by Constant Prévost after the discoverer of the fossils, Gaston Planté. Planté is much better known for inventing the lead-acid battery four years later. The fossils themselves, found in France, were at first believed to have come from a giant crane.

In the 1870s, paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope found much better remains of the genus in North America. He named the animal Diatryma, not realizing that a similar creature had already been described. Eventually, it was realized that the two genera were the same, and the name Gastornis, being the earlier of the two, became the correct name for the animal under the laws of zoological nomenclature.

Habitat
The environment in which Gastornis lived was likely moist and forested.

Diet
Gastornis is traditionally depicted as a predator, but the bones of the bird suggest that it was not very agile. It had a very powerful beak, which leads some scientists to suggest that Gastornis was adapted to cracking open nuts and seeds (and possibly fruits).

In popular culture
Gastornis is much better known as Diatryma, due to the better preserved North American fossils. One notable appearance of the bird is in the BBC documentary Walking with Beasts, where it is shown living in Eocene Germany and hunting small mammals.