Has the largest flying bird been discovered?

[DavidBrown]

Paleontologists discovered a fossilized bird species with a huge wingspan in 1983 in South Carolina. New computer simulations suggest that it could have been the largest flying bird in history.

A newly declared species may be the largest flying bird to ever live - The Washington Post

 

[nanoboy]

Paleontologists discovered a fossilized bird species with a huge wingspan in 1983 in South Carolina. New computer simulations suggest that it could have been the largest flying bird in history.

A newly declared species may be the largest flying bird to ever live - The Washington Post

How can they say something like "largest flying bird to ever live"? Shouldn't it be more like "...discovered to date"?

 

[Chlidonias]

that's neat. I was expecting it to be a teratorn but it is a pelagornithid. We have fossils of them in NZ too, but not this big.

 

[gentle lemur]

There was an interview with one of the scientists on the BBC flagship radio show 'Today' this morning (I was half asleep at the start so I didn't catch the name). The BBC web page about this has a link to their paper, (but only the abstract is free of course)
BBC News - Fossil of 'largest flying bird' identified

Alan

 

[Zooplantman]

Practical uses:

 

[TeaLovingDave]

I hear that Brazil are already looking into cloning one for their team.....