The Big Bird of Hateg

For long time, the dinosaur Balaur bondoc was thought to be a very weird lineage of Dromaeosaurs came from what is now Romania, used to be known as Hateg Island. From fossil record, this animal has stocky legs with two huge sickle claws on each foot and two finger fore arms. There was many debates about how this animal looks like back in its time from Late Crertaceous. Some thought of them to be vicious predator like most Dromaeosaur and used their large fearsome double sickle claws to catch prey while some thought of them to be a very special lineage of Dromaeosaur that had adapted to live on vegetarian life instead.

However, the recent study seems to point out Balaur as a prehistoric bird instead of Dromaeosaur, being more closely ralated to something like Archaeopteryx rather than Velociraptor. Even if Balaur is a bird, it is still as weird as it used to be. With the size up to 2 metres or more, this sure is a huge animal compared to its relatives which were usually pigeon-sized animals. Balaur is probably a good example of Insular gigantism where animal becomes bigger after reaching to the isolated area with less predators and competitors.

Since there are still none of its skull found, Balaur's diet is still in the shade of mystery. However, in my thought, the stocky short legs and robust body seems to be too clumsy for a vicious active predator we used to imagine it to be. So, here I speculate it to be more like a big omnivorous bird that travel among dead trees or forest floor, searching for everything it could stuff into its belly from berries to small animals with its bizarre claws support it in climbing up-down fallen log or tree trunk.


Inspiration from Capercaillie and Australian Magpie with some fanciness throwing in.