What animal does this giant nest belong to?

[Dogmother]

Hi, we live off a secluded forest and today whilst on a hike back from the hills we stumbled on a giant birds typed nest around a small potholing cave entrance, roughly a metre across

Around the entrance were sheep bones, shredded clothing and other skeletal remains of various animals.

We've had a few sheep go missing from here and heard that it was possibly a wolf but to my knowledge wolves can't build nests so this has left me and my husband baffled.

We were going to alert either the police or the the next towns newspaper but think we may be acting a little to hasty without enough facts to give them.

Does anyone know what kind of animal this could possibly belong to?

[Prudie]

It was all true you know......

[bibblebub]

a fantasy scenario deserved a fantasy bird answer

[China Doll]

I know Prudie... that cute T-rex inspired so many people to go out and get them as pets without realising how big they grow, and with incorrect training they can be a real danger to other pets.... The RSPC were outraged as I recall. Terrible business.

Don't even get me started on what happened after they showed the second part of that wildlife show featuring Godzilla...

[Dogmother]

I'm from the uk, but we're doing research here near Hohe Tauern in Austria.

[Baldric]

Maybe one of these

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothman

[Dogmother]

My husbands back with a few men to go back to the nest so i'll be going too.

If they manage to trap the creature i'll take a photograph and upload it to my photobucket account and then to here.

See you soon.

[stewey]

The Hohe Tavern; well, that explains it then doesn't it:)

[Tilly2]

Be very careful. It might bite!

[Prudie]

Don't upload here, send it to the Sun and demand a huge sum for exclusivity.

[Baldric]

could these be the pothole/cave?

http://www.photographersdirect.com/stockimages/p/pothole.asp

[ChuckFickens]

Wild chiwawa nest?

[wildwood]

No doubt it was a Diatryma gigantea.


http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=dyatrima&logNo=70012611395

[boxtops]

You're all wrong, it's a Yeti on holiday.

[sandyRoe]

It's undoubtedly a nest of the very rare Harpy. I think the shredded remains of clothes give it away.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/Harpij.jpg/220px-Harpij.jpg

[boxtops]

Do you think that it's related to the monster thread we had on here a while ago? Surely not..... :-)

[argorstran]

A metre-wide "nest" across a potholing cave entrance ? - If I had to guess which animal did it I would say Human Being .

[LyndaB]

We once saw a swans nest which was at least a metre wide, - much, much bigger than I would have expected - but as you dont say its near any water, it probably isn't one of them

[RATTER15]

I would suggest that rather than the bones being leftover from the "birds" meal, I think they could have just been carried to the nest for building or maybe just because their were traces of meat on the bones that was scavenged from a dead sheep. As a Pest Controller I have cleared away gulls nest on roof tops that were a metre across and full of chicken bones and all manner of rubbish that the gulls saw fit to add to its nest and the stench of decaying vegetation etc was dreadful. I see this nest as being totally feasible with nothing sinister as to the type of bird or its prey.

[Dogmother]

UPDATE- Last night the hole was staked out by my husbands friend several of which are animal trackers with the latest night vision equipment etc.. and found out the resident is a weird looking warthog/wildpig typed animal which was seen leaving at aprox 11pm and returning at 3am with what looked like a a baby lamb carcass which it dragged into it's hole.

These guys have been in the animal field for many years and were baffled by this creatures appearance and habits and have consulted local scientists and government officials for help and permission to trap this animal and investigate it further.

Will bring further updates as they happen.

[sandyRoe]

We're all waiting with bated breath.