Like an Ostrich of Doom

Whenever a bird is popular, or any fossil animal for that matter, it is always fun to look at extant birds to see what kind of similarities there are in the two popular taxa. Terror birds in general are most reminiscent of ostriches and other ratites. What we really care about on Thursday is the popularity of the animal and whether or not there is evidence of that popularity out in the wide world. We know, with the television, improvised cards for games like YuGi-oh, and even the creation of video game characters (we have not seen a good Spore creature in a while). Titanis is a very popular bird and, being the only terror bird from North America, it is quite unique. Also, look at this hypothetical baby, he is adorable: