Pelagornis, the king of seabirds

Today I bring here a restoration of Pelagornis, the largest seabird ever and one of the birds with largest wingspan. This restoration is mostly based on the Miocene species P. chilensis, although it could be also valid for the other Pelagornis species, like the gigantic P. sandersi.

Pelagornis were very large seabirds that soared the world's seas during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs. With an albatross-like appearence, their lifestyle was probably very similar to these birds', traveling around the oceans during most part of the year, only coming to land to breed. Like all the members of their family, Pelagornis had many tooth-like points on their beak edges (a trait that gives them the name pseudo-toothed birds), which probably helped them grabbing their prey, mainly squid or fish. Four species of Pelagornis had been described: one in France (P. miocaenus), other in Morocco(P. mauretanicus), a third one in northern Chile (P. chilensis) and the last one in South Carolina (P. sandersi). However, some remains found around the world may belong to this genus of magnificent birds