This object is on permanent display in the Florida Fossils: Evolution of Life and Land exhibit, located on the center island in the Pliocene Epoch.
Story
The Florida Terror Bird, scientifically Titanis walleri, was first discovered in the Santa Fe River in the early 1960s. Since then we’ve accumulated several dozen bones of the animal, but we’re not able to fully reconstruct its skeleton. Therefore, a sculptor was hired to produce this artistic endeavor, trying to use as much of the real bones as he could to create a lifelike, life-size reconstruction of Titanis walleri. Terror Birds evolved in South America and crossed into North America via the Panamanian land bridge about 5 million years ago. This species is only known from fossils from Texas and Florida.
Richard Hulbert
Collection Manager, Vertebrate Paleontology
Florida Museum of Natural History
Summary
Terror Bird (Titanis walleri)
Sculpture based on fossils from Citrus & Columbia Co., Florida
Lived ~2.3-1.8 million years ago
Exhibit Area