Fossilised Remains of a Giant Bird that Lived in Central Asia Discovered

Palaeontologists on 9 August 2011 found the fossilized remains of a giant bird that lived in Central Asia. This discovery challenges theories about the diversity of early birds. The bird was named Samrukia nessovi after Lev Nessov  a celebrated Russian palaeontologist who died in 1995 and after a mythological phoenix known as the samruk.The bones of the bird measure 275 millimetres. The bird was estimated to be 10 feet high and 50 kilos in weight.

Birds are believed to have evolved from theropods(two-footed tiny dinosaurs) at the start of the Cretaceous era, around 1500 million years ago. So far 100 types of early birds have been discovered and only one Gargantua philoinos was large bodied.  Gargantua lived around 70 million years ago. The other early birds were smaller.