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  1. #1
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    Teratorn (giant bird) captured on film in movie from 1965?

    The teratorns were a family of giant birds (now extinct) that lived in many parts of the world, but especially in the Americas. Related to New World vultures like our own black and turkey vultures, many had wingspans between 12-18 feet! From time to time, people have reported seeing giant birds, but usually these are simply eagles or vultures seen from a distance, making them appear larger.
    Could, however, a race of teratorn escaped detection and still exist in some remote corner of the world. I doubt it, but there is one clip of a huge bird that was accidentally filmed during the making of the Cornell Wilde movie "The Naked Prey", that defies description. I was told about this bird by a friend of mine who is an ornithologist, and recently watched the movie, and saw the bird.
    The movie is set in equatorial Africa. A party of ivory hunters are captured by a native tribe they had snubbed when asked for gifts for their chief. The men were killed in various ceremonial executions, and Wilde's fate was he had to flee from several warriors after being stripped and given a short head start. Not long after his chase begins, there is a huge bird that flies away from the camera, on camera for around six seconds.
    The bird is clearly a raptor, and it's wingspan is much wider than that of Africa's largest bird of prey, the martial eagle. The martial eagle's seven foot wingspan is dwarfed by this bird's, which appears to be nearly at least eleven feet. I ran the clip back several times, and it is certain this bird is much larger than the eagle.
    And, it has all the features of a bird of prey.
    Could it be a bird supposed to be gone from today's landscape? Watch the flic and decide for yourself, but it is certainly interesting. The wandering albatross is the only bird alive today with that kind of wingspan, and its an ocean dwelling species.

  2. #2
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    raleigh
    link to video?
    "One POSSIBLE future. From your point of view... I don't know tech stuff.".... Kyle Reese

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by moonpie23 View Post
    link to video?
    I will see tomorrow if I can find it. The movie is available on youtube.. The clip is around 25 minutes in.

  4. #4
    The movie costs a couple $ on my YouTube; allow me to treat you to a GIF of the beginning of the flight.
    And, if this works, here's a link to the GIF in a player that you can enlarge and slow down.

    Quote Originally Posted by Devilwin View Post
    The bird is clearly a raptor, and it's wingspan is much wider than that of Africa's largest bird of prey, the martial eagle. The martial eagle's seven foot wingspan is dwarfed by this bird's, which appears to be nearly at least eleven feet. I ran the clip back several times, and it is certain this bird is much larger than the eagle. And, it has all the features of a bird of prey
    How about raptor = yes and bird of prey = no? What leads someone to conclude that this isn't a vulture?

    The movie locations were South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Botswana, so all sleuthing should match that distribution. Rüppell's vulture is out due to distribution (and coloration), but someone as knowledgeable as Devilwin might add a tidbit about how Rüppell's vulture is the highest flying bird species. It has a hemoglobin variant with very high oxygen affinity. The altitude of its flight was determined in 1973 when it was sucked into a jet engine at 37,000. The plane made an emergency landing, and the species was identified by the remaining feathers. In 2010, Scottish pilots were placed on alert when a Rüppell's vulture got loose during a bird show (I am SOOO tempted to rickroll y'all into this Aflac commercial). Rüppell's vulture also has backward-facing barbs on its tongue to help it rip food from carcasses.

    The lappet-faced vulture (Torgos tracheliotos) is found in the movie locations and has a wingspan of 9.5 feet. Distinctive markings are pink head, tawny to white thighs, and a white bar running across leading edge of underwing. Could this vulture be your mystery bird?
    Note: there is an audio recording in the movie, but I would guess that it is not actually the call of the bird filmed

    ETA: National Geographic Magazine article for vulture lovers
    Last edited by bedeviled; 02-26-2018 at 12:33 AM.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by bedeviled View Post
    The movie costs a couple $ on my YouTube; allow me to treat you to a GIF of the beginning of the flight.
    And, if this works, here's a link to the GIF in a player that you can enlarge and slow down.

    How about raptor = yes and bird of prey = no? What leads someone to conclude that this isn't a vulture?

    The movie locations were South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Botswana, so all sleuthing should match that distribution. Rüppell's vulture is out due to distribution (and coloration), but someone as knowledgeable as Devilwin might add a tidbit about how Rüppell's vulture is the highest flying bird species. It has a hemoglobin variant with very high oxygen affinity. The altitude of its flight was determined in 1973 when it was sucked into a jet engine at 37,000. The plane made an emergency landing, and the species was identified by the remaining feathers. In 2010, Scottish pilots were placed on alert when a Rüppell's vulture got loose during a bird show (I am SOOO tempted to rickroll y'all into this Aflac commercial). Rüppell's vulture also has backward-facing barbs on its tongue to help it rip food from carcasses.

    The lappet-faced vulture (Torgos tracheliotos) is found in the movie locations and has a wingspan of 9.5 feet. Distinctive markings are pink head, tawny to white thighs, and a white bar running across leading edge of underwing. Could this vulture be your mystery bird?
    Note: there is an audio recording in the movie, but I would guess that it is not actually the call of the bird filmed

    ETA: National Geographic Magazine article for vulture lovers
    Thanks, Bedeviled for the link, and the excellent info. You are correct on the Ruppell's vulture being the champion high flyer. Other vulture species sometimes follow them, as they are among the first birds drawn to a kill site because they can see it from so far away.
    When my friend Herb told me about this clip, I mentioned the possibility of one of the several species of vulture. He said the lappet faced was the largest, yet the coloration of the mystery bird was wrong. And, this bird's head appears feathered, while the lappet faced has a reddish, naked head, plus, the head and beak of the vulture are shorter than our mystery bird. The lappet faced is pale below, and has pale white to buff colored feathers from its thighs down. The mystery bird has dark feathers in those areas. But one trait to me that eliminates the vulture is the tail, which in lappet faced vultures is short and squared off, the mystery bird has a longer tail.
    The underside of the mystery bird appears dark, and there are no broad white stripes on the neck that are typical of the lappet faced vulture.
    Herb was confounded by this creature, and he is an ornithologist, and knew what to look for. But I admire your sleuthing here, kudoes!
    Last edited by Devilwin; 02-26-2018 at 06:33 AM.

  6. #6
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    Jan 2014
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    I found this pic of a lappet faced vulture in flight. This clearly shows (in my opinion, anyway) the wingspan difference, and the white thighs. The pic shows the broader appearing wings of the vulture too..http://www.arkive.org/lappet-faced-v...ge-G20296.html

  7. #7
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    Walnut Creek, California
    The Wiki entries assert that the teratorn is (was) indigenous to the Western Hemisphere and died out during the end of the Pleistocene era (at least 10,000 years ago). Since the film shot was in Africa, the bird seems an unlikely candidate for a teratorn. Big and impressive, though. You'd think that more could be seen today. It'd be nice to get an ID on it. I hope the species is still alive.

  8. #8
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    Yes, you are correct about the teratorns being New World species, but there were large birds in other parts of the world as well.
    Science continues to find unknown species every year. I called my ornithologist friend yesterday and we spoke of this creature again.
    He, like me, does believe it is a raptor, and not the lappet faced vulture. The head resembles a golden eagle, but the bill is larger and longer than that species.
    He says that there were legends of giant birds from Arabia, in particular the Roc. Maybe somewhere a surviving population of these enormous raptors that inspired the legends are still around somewhere. I for one, would love to see an identification on this bird, but if it totally stumped an ornithologist...Who knows..

  9. #9
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    Feb 2007
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    Chesapeake, VA.
    Quote Originally Posted by Devilwin View Post
    I found this pic of a lappet faced vulture in flight. This clearly shows (in my opinion, anyway) the wingspan difference, and the white thighs. The pic shows the broader appearing wings of the vulture too..http://www.arkive.org/lappet-faced-v...ge-G20296.html
    I don't know, but at the very beginning of the flying gif, when the angle is just right, it appears to me that the broadness of the wing is very similar if not identical to that of the lappet-faced vulture; there is foreshortening because of the camera angle, though, and that might be throwing people off.
    "We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by rsvman View Post
    I don't know, but at the very beginning of the flying gif, when the angle is just right, it appears to me that the broadness of the wing is very similar if not identical to that of the lappet-faced vulture; there is foreshortening because of the camera angle, though, and that might be throwing people off.
    Very true, I saw that too. However the color is not right, and the shape of the head and beak are just not right for the lappet faced vulture. I have the movie recorded, and have been looking at it over and over on a 50" screen. Still baffles me.

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