It's my Birthday! (+ The largest bird ever)

It’s my birthday today! I’m turning 21 so now I can …. Legally drink alcohol in the USA? Well, I can do that since I was 18 (16) as I live in Germany. Hm. Well, it’s not such an amazing birthday but whatever, I like birthdays.

Tomorrow, I’ll go on a vacation for about a week. The downside: I won’t have much time to write. So all my content posted during that time will have to be pre-written. In fact, I’m writing this post on the 14th September as I need to start preparations for my birthday party and the vacation on the 15th. The amount of content you will have during my vacation heavily depends on how productive and creative I am today.

Sounds fun, doesn’t it? We will see how that works out…

Anyway, I hope you don’t forget me during the time I’m gone! Especially those who are used to talking to me every day on steemit.chat.

And because I don’t just want to do a random boring update post, here is something more interesting:

Argentavis Magnificens, the largest bird ever!

Roughly six million years ago, this feathered giant probably scared the hell out of everything living on the ground in what is now Argentina. With a wingspan of 7 to 9 meters and a height of up to 2 meters, it looks perfect to ride on. Maybe they also lived in middle earth?

Its cousin, Aiolornis incredibilis only became extinct about 10,000 years ago and seems to have found its way into American Indian stories as the Thunderbird.

But the frightening bird was probably not a good flyer for it was likely very heavy. And heavy birds have issues getting off the ground. They either try to glide as much as possible or completely stick to the ground.

Looking at animals like this, I’m usually glad that I live in a time where most of them are extinct. Just imagine sitting in an airplane and A. Magnificens flies by.

Just imagine it getting sucked into one of the turbines.

What a mess.

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Sources:

Argentavis Magnificens — Largest Flying Bird Ever, Giant Teratorn Facts, Extinction, Wingspan, Etc

Largest Flying Bird Could Barely Get off Ground, Fossils Show

Argentavis, the largest flying bird, was a master glider

Picture Credit:

First Picture: pixabay.com

Second Picture: By Wangyonglee (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

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_{Monster GIF by @saywha and @atopy}