"The biggest bird ever to have lived had a wingspan of up to 24ft (7.3m) - twice as big as an albatross - scientists have discovered.
Pelagornis sandersi lived 28 million years ago, after the dinosaurs had died out. They became extinct about three million years ago, just before the earliest humans appeared on the planet.
Scientists first discovered the fossilised remains of the extinct creature in 1983 in South Carolina when construction workers started excavations on a new terminal at Charleston International Airport.
The specimen now sits in the Charleston Museum where Dan Ksepka, from the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in Durham, North Carolina, was able to identify it as a new species.
Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers found that the Pelagornis sandersi had extremely long slender wings that made it an extremely efficient glider, meaning it could stay up in the air for long periods, despite its huge size."
