Early humans could never have come into contact with the giant carnivorous “terror bird” Titanis walleri, research suggests.

It had been thought the fearsome beasts became extinct as little as 10,000 years ago – a time when humans shared their North American habitat. But a US team has now revised this date to about two million years earlier.Titanis walleri is thought to be the largest species of the terror bird family. It would have stood 2m tall and weighed 150kg .

The flightless species, which inhabited South and North America, had an enormous beak and lived up to its terror tag by being a top predator of its time. The researchers looked at fossils of the birds that had been uncovered in Florida and Texas.

By analysing the distribution of a group of chemicals, known as rare earth elements, within the bones, the team was able determine the age of the North American remains.