Question 1

How do you say Procariama?

Accepted Answer

Procariama is pronounced pro-kar-ee-AH-mah. Break it into four parts: PRO like the word pro, KAR like car, EE like the letter E, and AH-mah at the end. Put the most stress on the AH syllable. A good memory trick is to say 'pro car, ee-AHma' as if you are describing a professional car with a fancy name.

Question 2

What does Procariama mean?

Accepted Answer

The name Procariama means 'before the Cariama,' combining the Latin and Greek prefix 'pro,' meaning before, with 'Cariama,' the name of a modern South American bird called the seriema. Scientists named it this because the seriema is the closest living relative of the terror birds. So the name basically means this bird was an ancient ancestor-type cousin of today's seriemas. The species name simplex means simple in Latin.

Question 3

Was Procariama a terror bird?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Procariama was absolutely a terror bird. It belonged to the family Phorusrhacidae, the scientific name for the terror bird group. Specifically it was a member of the subfamily Psilopterinae, which were the smaller, faster members of the terror bird family. Procariama simplex was actually the largest species in that smaller-terror-bird group, making it the biggest of the little guys.

Question 4

How big was Procariama?

Accepted Answer

Procariama was roughly 3.3 feet tall, about the height of a large eagle standing upright, and probably weighed around 22 pounds, similar to a big turkey. That might not sound terrifying compared to giant terror birds like Phorusrhacos, which stood 8 feet tall and weighed over 300 pounds. But for the animals it hunted, small mammals and lizards in Late Miocene Argentina, Procariama was absolutely terrifying.

Question 5

Could Procariama fly?

Accepted Answer

No, Procariama could not fly. Like all terror birds, it was completely flightless. Its wings had shrunk down over millions of years of evolution because running was far more useful than flying for hunting on the open South American grasslands. Those powerful legs that made it a fast runner are exactly what terror birds traded their flight ability for over evolutionary time.

Question 6

What did Procariama eat?

Accepted Answer

Procariama was a carnivore that almost certainly hunted small mammals, lizards, and other small animals living in the Late Miocene grasslands of Argentina. Based on what we know about the hunting behavior of its closest living relatives, the seriemas of South America, Procariama probably chased down prey on foot and then slammed it against the ground or stabbed it repeatedly with its hooked beak. Its size, larger than other Psilopterines, suggests it could take prey a bit bigger than what smaller terror birds could handle.

Question 7

Where did Procariama live?

Accepted Answer

Procariama lived in what is now Argentina, with fossils found in Catamarca Province and La Pampa Province. The richest fossil sites come from the Cerro Azul Formation and the Andalhuala Formation. These areas during the Late Miocene and Pliocene would have been open grasslands and scrubby plains, similar in some ways to the modern Argentine pampas. Six separate fossil locations have been found, which makes Procariama reasonably well-documented for a prehistoric bird.

Question 8

When did Procariama live?

Accepted Answer

Procariama lived from about 5.3 million years ago to approximately 3.8 million years ago, spanning the Late Miocene into the Late Pliocene. To put that in perspective, modern humans and our immediate ancestors were just beginning to evolve in Africa during the time Procariama was still stalking prey in South America. It went extinct well before the Great American Biotic Interchange, when North and South America connected and animals began migrating between the two continents.

Question 9

Is Procariama related to any animals alive today?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and this is one of the coolest things about terror birds. Procariama and all the phorusrhacids are most closely related to the seriemas, long-legged birds still living in South America today. Seriemas hunt in a way that scientists believe mirrors ancient terror bird behavior, sprinting after prey and slamming it against hard surfaces. So when you see a seriema video online, you are basically watching a small living echo of what Procariama did millions of years ago.

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