Oviraptor - Thunderbird

Based in part off of Dromornis stirtoni, the thunderbird, this big ol' bastard is a descendant of the oviraptorids. A denizen of the holarctic plains, this massive-beaked giant is largely herbivorous, but will often supplement it's protein-poor diet of tough plains grasses and shrubs with carrion, dinosaur eggs, and small mammals. It's sheer size means that it has few natural predators, and in all the cultures that come into contact with it it is a traditional totemic animal, renowned for it's strength, stubbornness, and ferocity.

I love the extinct giant birds of the pleistocene - the last gasp of the dinosaurs - and I especially love the oceanian flightless giants. Reading up on the rather enigmatic beak of Dromornis, I thought that an animal with a beak like that (massive and versatile) would probably have a very unique lifestyle. Looking at the hypothesized lifestyle of some of the giant sloths, I figured that such a beast would do well as an omnivore with the size and inclination to bully dedicated predators off of their kills.