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,

A massive meat-eating bird sat high atop the food chain about 12 million years ago. Researchers analyzed a bone of the creature found in northern South America nearly 20 years ago and determined that it was likely a "terror bird" related to Phorusrhacids,

Evolutionary biologist Federico Degrange from Argentina's Center for Research in Earth Sciences and colleagues found the bird's shinbone was marred with teeth marks of an ancient crocodile relative, Purussaurus, thought to grow up to 9 meters (30 feet) long.

The previous tallest members of the family were almost 3 meters high, and this was probably substantially bigger.

The mostly flightless, meat-eating dinosaur descendents were the size of dogs at their smallest, but the largest known examples reached nearly 10 feet in height. Now, however, paleontologists have confirmed that a possibly unknown species of terror bird grew up to 20 percent bigger than any previously known,