A Colombian rancher has discovered a fossilized bone that points to the existence of a giant terror bird species. The fossil, an enormous leg bone found in the Tatacoa Desert, suggests that this bird stood over three meters tall,

The fossil was on display in a museum, but unlabeled and hidden right under paleontologists’ noses for 20 years.

Researchers including a Johns Hopkins University evolutionary biologist report they have analyzed a fossil of an extinct giant meat-eating bird—which they say could be the largest known member of its kind—providing new information about animal life in northern South America millions of years ago.

Also read Undiscovered Chopin Waltz Found in New York Library After 200 Years This fossilized leg bone suggests that the newly discovered terror bird could be the largest member of the species found to date—approximately 5–20% larger than other known specimens.

Terror birds were apex predators some 12 million years ago in South America. A newly published discovery could be the largest yet.

Researchers confirm the terror bird fossil 20 years after its South American discovery, comparing the creature to a massive, carnivorous-like ostrich.