Had there been humans around for the extinct giant parrot Heracles inexpectatus to imitate, it might have made its own addition to the time-tested avian memory phrase and expected said humans to produce said Saltine swiftly if not sooner. As ol' H. inexpectatus weighed in at 15 and a half pounds and stood about a yard tall -- with a beak about groin high on a human being -- it could probably have backed up its demand.
But as the story notes, the giant parrot lived about 19 million years ago and thus did not overlap much with humans. Proconsul, the simian ancestor to both humans and great apes, was around at the time but was mostly tree-dwelling. Which produces the interesting reversal of our ancestors living in trees while the big honkin' bird lived on the ground. Scientists suspect H. inexpectatus was flightless and while it may have been carnivorous, it might just as easily have lived on nuts and other plant mass. They're not sure yet, as it seems no battery of tests has been developed to detect cracker residue in fossilized skeletons.
No comments:
Post a Comment