Titanis (The Terror Bird)

I'm currently working on several drawings of various animals so that I can improve my drawing skills and expand what I can do. This particular one is thanks to me watching a documentary about Titanis, otherwise known as the Terror Bird. This bird was a prehistoric predator that originated in South America before it was connected by the Panama Isthmus with North America. It is thought to have evolved from the same line as T-Rex. This bird stood at roughly seven to eight feet tall and used its massive curved beak as its main killing weapon. The muscles in its head were extremely powerful, allowing the bird to shatter through bone easily. It could hunt its prey both by stalking it and/or chasing it to exhaustion. We currently believe that it had a great sense of vision, possibly close to what a modern day hawk has. With all of these adaptations, it is easy to see why this bird was an apex predator of its time. However, there were a few factors that worked against this beast. It was a solitary hunter which meant that defending its kill would have been difficult to do. It also had to lay its eggs in ground bound nests which meant other animals could easily stumble upon a feast of Terror Bird eggs. Its main competition came from saber-tooth cats and wolves. All three were all considered apex predators and when their territories started to collide, Titanis was the first to fall. 

Sorry for the rambling. I just love anything to do with science and love to learn what I can.