Simulations of a terror bird strike produced by the Discovery Channel using a pneumatic model have demonstrated the larger species could easily crush the skull of its prey and puncture through bone with its beak. They had a fearsome weapon, a beak which could be driven into prey with the force of a sledgehammer, and could at speed over long distances. The Phorusrhacids are colloquially known as "terror birds", as the larger species were apex predators during the Miocene.