A 13-million-year-old fossilized leg bone of a terror bird, unearthed in Colombia's Tatacoa Desert, shows tooth marks consistent with an attack by a Purussaurus neivensis, a large extinct caiman. 3D scans of the bite marks allowed researchers from the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá to reconstruct the interaction, suggesting a possible "battle to the death." The terror bird, approximately 2.5 meters tall, was a top predator in the Middle Miocene epoch when the area was a swamp. The study, published in Biology Letters, highlights the rare evidence of an interaction between two extinct apex predators.

The lack of healing in the bite marks suggests the terror bird may have died in the attack, although scavenging cannot be ruled out. Lead researcher Andres Link emphasizes the significance of the discovery, stating that even a "tiny bone can complete the story" of ancient ecosystems. The research involved collaboration with local fossil collector César Augusto Perdomo, whose museum housed the bone. The Purussaurus neivensis, a crocodilian reaching up to five meters in length, is believed to have ambushed its prey from the water's edge.

This discovery challenges previous assumptions about the vulnerability of terror birds and provides valuable insight into the dynamics of the ancient ecosystem.