10 Facts about Elephant Birds

We would like to talk Facts about Elephant Birds in the following post. The birds do not exist anymore since they are extinct. Once, they settled in the island of Madagascar. The elephant birds had large body. They could not fly. They were included as the members of family Aepyornithidae. The reason of the elephant bird’s extinction was not clear. The researchers believe that the extinction of elephant birds took place in 1000-1200 AD. They suspected that the human being was the primary cause of their extinction. Let us get other facts about elephant birds below:

Facts about Elephant Birds 1: the living relative

Do you know that kiwi is the living relative of elephant birds? Kiwi has the closest relationship with elephant birds, though the birds resembles the look of an ostrich.

Facts about Elephant Birds 2: Étienne de Flacourt

In 1640s and 1650s, Étienne de Flacourt served as the French governor in Madagascar Island. He stated that the unpopulated regions in Madagascar were occupied by the ostrich like birds. It was unclear whether he referred to the elephant birds.

Elephant Birds Facts

Facts about Elephant Birds 3: vouropatra

Vouropatra was known as the large bird, which had the similar habit like the ostrich. The bird will lay their eggs like the ostrich and haunt the Ampatres. They will look for the loneliest places to lay the eggs. Thus, no one will find the eggs.

See Also: 10 Facts about Elephant Seals

Facts about Elephant Birds 4: the accounts of Marco Polo

Marco Polo created accounts, which stated that he heard about the stories of large birds in the late 13th century when he travelled to East. It was believed that the birds were the elephant birds.

Elephant Birds

Facts about Elephant Birds 5: the giant eggs and eggshells

European travelers spotted the giant eggs and eggshells when they were in Madagascar around 1830 to 1840.

Facts about Elephant Birds 6: the moa

The most in New Zealand had big size. Therefore, the English Observers tried to believe the accounts of about the giant birds and their eggs.

Elephant Birds Pic

Facts about Elephant Birds 7: the bone fragments

There were three eggs and bone fragments of giant birds received by the French Academy of Sciences in 1851. It was considered as the largest type of bird egg ever found due to the big size at the length of 13 inches or 34 cm. The weight of the egg was 22 lb or 10 kilogram. Compared to a chicken egg, it had the volume of 160 times bigger.

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Facts about Elephant Birds 8: the height

It was believed that the height of Aepyornis reached 9.8 feet or 3 meter. The weight was around 770 to 1,100 lb or 350 to 500 kilograms.

Elephant Birds Eggs

Facts about Elephant Birds 9: species

The scientists believed that Aepyornis actually had four species. The elephant bird had the biological name of Aepyornis maximus.

Facts about Elephant Birds 10: the Malagasy name

The Malagasy name of the elephant bird is vorompatra. It means bird of the Ampatres.

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Elephant Bird

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