Poultry News April/ May 2025
This time in poultry news: learn about a 500-pound prehistoric bird, continued bird flu monitoring, and training pigeons to guide missiles.
Fossil Reveals 500-Pound Prehistoric ‘Giga-Goose’
Geese have the reputation for being a little sassy. But can you imagine a 500-pound prehistoric bird with a goose-like attitude?
Jacob C. Blokland, a palaeornithologist at Flinders University in South Australia, provided these reconstructions of the 6.5 foot tall, 50,000-year-old bird. Blokland is interested in contributing to the understanding of bird evolution, especially the patterns and processes involved in flightlessness. In addition to the giga-goose, Genyornis newtoni, he uses comparative anatomy to study other dromornithids, as well as the dodo, moa, rails, and penguins.
The presence of the Dromornithidae bird family (informally known as “thunder birds” or “demon ducks”) in the Australian Cenozoic fossil record was first reported in 1872. All are extinct now, but the giga-goose outlived the other species until the Late Pleistocene. The skull of the Pleistocene dromornithid was initially described in 1913. Although the fossilized body was in good condition (for being 50,000 years old), the skull was not. This led some scientists and paleontologists to believe it was a large version of an emu while others understood it as a giant chicken.
In mid-2024, a paper was published in Historical Biology on more skulls of this giant bird found at Lake Callabonna between 2013 and 2019. This is of particular importance, as all mega-flightless birds follow the same pattern of stumpy wings, a broad rump, and bulky legs. However, skulls are excellent at revealing lineages and ecological niches. Although there’s no extant (living) analogue for these extinct birds today, scientists say they’re most closely related to Anseriformes: an order of birds also called waterfowl, including ducks, swans, and geese. If Jurassic Park was real, would you add a giga-goose to your flock?
Bird Flu Still Rampant
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), H5 bird flu is widespread in wild birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows with several recent human cases in U.S. dairy and poultry workers. The CDC is watching the situation carefully and working with states to monitor people with animal exposures. The CDC is using its flu surveillance systems to monitor for H5 bird flu activity in people.
Recently, a Chilean flamingo and harbor seal died from bird flu at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, and a Long Island farm was forced to euthanize more than 100,000 ducks after bird flu was detected.
According to the CDC, 136,327,394 U.S. birds consisting of wild aquatic birds, commercial poultry, and backyard or hobbyist flocks have been detected with the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5) virus since January 2022.
To learn more about protecting your flock visit www.CDC.gov/Bird-Flu/Caring.
Birds at War
In my animal behavior class in college, I learned about behavioral analyst Harvard professor of psychology B.F. Skinner training pigeons to guide missiles for WWII by tapping a target on a screen with their beaks to control the direction. In the nose cone of the missile there were three compartments, each seated with a pigeon. The pigeons were excellent in simulations. The National Defense Research Committee contributed $25,000 to the project after much hesitation. Although the pigeons were very reliable, people couldn’t take the project serious, unable to imagine pigeons guiding weapons of mass destruction.
In the 1950s, the British Army was also doing something fowl! They had a tactical nuclear weapon project named “Blue Peacock.” The warhead could be detonated by three methods: a wire located three miles away, an eight-day timer, or anti-tampering devices. Once armed, the buried Blue Peacock would detonate 10 seconds after being moved if the casing lost pressure, or if it was filled with water.
However, there was a problem. The nuclear warhead had to be kept within a specific temperature range, and they were preparing to fight the Soviets in northern Germany in winter. They tried insulating the 16,000-pound weapon by wrapping it in fiberglass pillows. In a 1957 document, nuclear physicists proposed putting a flock of live chickens in the weapon with food and water. The chickens would stay alive for a week and generate enough heat to moderate the temperatures long enough for the buried bomb to go off. The Blue Peacock Project ended in 1958, with the Ministry of Defense citing concerns about radioactive fallout and the destruction of their allies’ territory.
Kenny Coogan earned a master’s degree in Global Sustainability and co-hosts the Mother Earth News and Friends podcast, which can be enjoyed at MotherEarthNews.com/Podcast. He also hosts and created the television show Florida’s Flora and Fauna with Conservationist Kenny Coogan. To learn more about that program, visit www.FloridasFloraAndFauna.com.
Originally published in the April/May 2025 issue of Backyard Poultry and regularly vetted for accuracy.
