October halls of horror and terror Birds. The rage of Andalgalornis

Andalgalornis has a more gracile build than many other South American‭ ‘‬terror birds‭’‬ and this lightweight build is also reflected in the skull and beak.‭ ‬In depth analysis suggests that the beak was strongest when subjected to stresses from below rather than the sides.‭ ‬This meant that gripping and holding large prey was a risky business for Andalgalornis,‭ ‬but it does support two long held theories about how terror birds hunted and dispatched their prey.‭ ‬One is to focus upon smaller prey that could be easily killed by picking it up and throwing it hard against the ground and then swallowing the animal.‭ ‬The second is that the hook tip of the beak was used to strike down onto a preys‭’‬ skull to cause a mortal injury that would result in a quick death for the prey.