The elephant bird, a member of the extinct genera Aepyornis and Mullerornis, was the largest bird to ever walk the Earth, reaching over 3.3 m in height and weighing up to 454 kg. It went extinct around 1649 and lived on Madagascar alongside humans for over a thousand years. The bird was a herbivore and a type of flightless ratite, similar to today’s cassowaries, emus, and ostriches. Its eggs, sometimes containing a semi-preserved embryo, are occasionally found.
Elephant birds, members of the genera Aepyornis and Mullerornis, are a group of extinct birds that includes the largest bird to ever walk the Earth, Aepyornis maximus, sometimes known simply as the elephant bird. The elephant bird went extinct around 1649, not long after Europeans first arrived on the island where they lived, Madagascar, off the southeast coast of Africa. The largest bird that ever lived was completely flightless and ate large fruits.
The elephant bird was the largest bird not only in size but also in weight. It reached more than 3.3 m (10 ft) in height, with a weight approaching 454 kg (1,000 lbs) or half a ton. Only the New Zealand Giant Moa (also extinct) was taller, but it was much lighter. The Giant Moa was the second largest bird in the world at the time. The elephant bird was more massively built and would have been impervious to the medium-sized predatory mammals of the island. The only predators the elephant bird should have feared would have been the Nile crocodile and humans, who would raid its nest for its gigantic eggs.
The elephant bird lived alongside the natives of Madagascar for over a thousand years, from about AD 200 until its extinction. It was encountered by Indian and Arab traders who visited the island in the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries, who backed up their claims by bringing home eggs three feet in circumference.
The world’s largest bird was also known to Kublai Khan, ruler of the Mongol empire, who ordered explorer Marco Polo to investigate reports of giant birds on the island of Madagascar. This occurred in the late 1200s, but Polo never spotted the birds. The elephant bird is thought to have been the inspiration for the gigantic bird called the “Roc” in the tales of Sindbad and Marco Polo, although the elephant bird was a herbivore, unlike the carnivorous Roc.
The elephant bird was a type of bird called a ratite, with a body plan similar to today’s cassowaries, emus, and ostriches. These birds are all flightless and lack a breast “keel” that provides an anchor point for the wing muscles. Due to the lack of predators on the island, the elephant bird probably did not have the same running ability as other ratites and would have been a target for predators such as dogs once introduced by Europeans. The elephant bird lived so recently that its non-fossilized eggs, sometimes containing a semi-preserved embryo, are occasionally found.
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