Co-author Associate Professor Lee Arnold, from Lineage 2M Diamonds the University of Adelaide, dated the lake sediments where Genyornis was found. The results show that the species was present in within the Lake Callabonna region during a period of severe drought that began around 48,000 years ago. the time at which central Australia transitioned from a landscape with vast forests and lakes in the inland region to the saltbush and desert plains which we have today.

"As severe droughts worsened the food supply would have diminished and putting a great strain on animals," says co-author Associate Professor Trevor Worthy, from Flinders University's Palaeontology Laboratory.

"From studies on live birds, we've learned that difficult environmental conditions may create negative physiological effects consequently, we speculate it is likely that Lake Callabonna population of Genyornis would have been struggling through those conditions" he says.

"Birds are extremely efficient in their ability to cope with stress," says McInerney, "but if that stress response continues over a prolonged time, they begin to transfer energy from other things like their immune system to things like breathing and brain functions for the sake of staying alive. That's when you'll notice an increased vulnerability to infection."

People who succumb to the effects of osteomyelitis have faced suffering from a decline in their health, says McInerney."We have a lot of Lineage 2M Diamonds for sale frothy and woven bone, massive abnormal growths and cavities within the fossil remains of their victims," she elaborates.