What, if Anything, Is Big Bird?

July 14, 2010 11:09 AM

Paedomorphic flightlessness and taxonomic affinities of an enormous Recent bird is a talk on the anatomy and evolutionary history of a certain flightless bird indigenous to New York City.
posted by CrunchyFrog (16 comments total)

Oh this is spectacular. I love the first recorded illustration of G. viasesamensis at about 3:42.
posted by The Bellman at 11:18 AM on July 14, 2010

Very well done! I love it when science runs amok!
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:20 AM on July 14, 2010

a certain flightless bird indigenous to New York City

How would it get anywhere else?
posted by orange swan at 11:22 AM on July 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

How would it get anywhere else?

There is a documentary that studied this exact question, and the results were really pretty fascinating.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 11:24 AM on July 14, 2010 [5 favorites]

How would it get anywhere else?

By airplane, foot, and hitched ride, of course. CitrusFreak12 knows what I'm talking about.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:27 AM on July 14, 2010

And Pecha-Kucha, previously.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:29 AM on July 14, 2010

Chrome thinks the linked site is in Turkish. Translating it is pretty fun.
posted by shakespeherian at 11:32 AM on July 14, 2010

Old Three Toes, a 15 foot tall penguin.
posted by Tube at 11:35 AM on July 14, 2010

I'm particularly thrilled that this research is already incorporated into wikipedia.
posted by Tomorrowful at 11:36 AM on July 14, 2010

Chrome thinks the linked site is in Turkish. Translating it is pretty fun.

Probably has something to do with the spam comment down at the bottom.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:38 AM on July 14, 2010

How would it get anywhere else?

What with airport security the way it is these days.

(And what's the deal with those little bags of peanuts?)
posted by Trochanter at 11:55 AM on July 14, 2010

"Does anyone here speak American?"
"I speak English!"
"Close enough."
posted by frecklefaerie at 12:05 PM on July 14, 2010

More to the point, what does it think about the tastiness of geese?
posted by tommasz at 12:06 PM on July 14, 2010

Follow That Bird!

This was all kinds of awesome. Thanks so much for sharing! :D
posted by xedrik at 12:11 PM on July 14, 2010

Should be easy enough to round up this specimen and dispose of it, I imagine.
posted by orme at 12:43 PM on July 14, 2010

Why not ask the flightless bird in question? (note: lower your volume)
posted by evilcolonel at 12:53 PM on July 14, 2010 [1 favorite]