--- title: Scientists Identify World's Largest Bird description: Scientists identified a bird with the wingspan of 21 feet soared through the skies some 25 million years ago. canonical: https://time.com/2965557/biggest-bird/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-08T12:05:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:11:27.991Z article:section: Science og:title: Scientists Identify World's Largest Bird og:description: With a wingspan of 21 feet og:url: https://time.com/2965557/biggest-bird/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta39a453e4ee64d10/69869ac8810bbb3642c9282e/bird.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 400 og:image:height: 225 og:image:alt: Bird og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Scientists Identify World's Largest Bird twitter:description: With a wingspan of 21 feet twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta39a453e4ee64d10/69869ac8810bbb3642c9282e/bird.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Scientists: Biggest-Ever Bird Had Massive 20-Foot Wingspan > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Jul 8, 2014 12:05 PM UTC  This is a reconstruction of the world's largest-ever flying bird, Pelagornis sandersi, identified by Daniel Ksepka, Curator of Science at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Conn. Reconstruction art is by Liz Bradford. This is a reconstruction of the world's largest-ever flying bird, Pelagornis sandersi, identified by Daniel Ksepka, Curator of Science at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Conn. Reconstruction art is by Liz Bradford. Liz Bradford by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Jul 8, 2014 12:05 PM UTC Scientists have identified what they believe to be the largest bird to have ever lived. According to a [paper](http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/07/02/1320297111.abstract) published in the _Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences_ Monday, a bird with a wingspan of about 21 feet soared through the skies some 25 million years ago. That’s double the size of a modern Royal Albatross and, [according to the Associated Press](http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/ap/study-fossil-soaring-bird-had--foot-wingspan/article%5F6bf8a346-060c-11e4-9076-001a4bcf6878.html), bigger than a giraffe’s head. While the bird’s giant size led to some [clumsiness on land](http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/jul/07/study-fossil-soaring-bird-had-huge-wingspan/), flight analysis estimates that the creature traveled up to 50 feet a second in the air. “This was a pretty impressive creature,” Bruce Museum paleontologist Daniel T. Ksepka [told the _Wall Street Journal_](http://online.wsj.com/articles/scientists-identify-largest-flying-bird-1404759602). “Science had made a rule about flight, and life found a way around it.” The ancient bird’s sizable skeleton was discovered in 1983 near a Charleston, South Carolina airport. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2965557/biggest-bird/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2965557/biggest-bird/"},"headline":"Scientists: Biggest-Ever Bird Had Massive 20-Foot Wingspan","datePublished":"2014-07-08T12:05:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:11:27.991Z","description":"With a wingspan of about 21 feet","url":"https://time.com/2965557/biggest-bird/","keywords":["animals","Newsfeed","Science topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta39a453e4ee64d10/69869ac8810bbb3642c9282e/bird.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta39a453e4ee64d10/69869ac8810bbb3642c9282e/bird.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bird","caption":"Bird","creditText":"Liz Bradford","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2965557/biggest-bird/","name":"Scientists: Biggest-Ever Bird Had Massive 20-Foot Wingspan"}}]}] ```