After the Dinosaurs: Giant Birds Dominate Land and Sea

After the asteroid extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, birds filled every ecological niche across the globe: terror birds in South America hunted on powerful legs with razor beaks; Madagascar’s elephant birds grew over 3 meters tall and laid colossal eggs; Australia’s mihirungs (demon ducks) were massive herbivores; Europe and North America hosted Gastornis (Diatryma) as towering beaked giants later reinterpreted as plant-eaters; New Zealand’s moas ruled the land until humans arrived; penguins surged as ocean predators, and pelagornithids with gargantuan wingspans roamed the skies, a diverse, post-dinosaur era eventually reshaped by mammalian rivals.