The largest bird that ever existed was the size of an elephant (and put eggs of 10 kg)

The elephant bird did not fly. It was up to 3 meters high, weighed 700 kg, and put eggs of 10 pounds. The question in your case is the opposite of the usual: how many omelets would be done with one of your eggs?

On the island of Madagascar, known for its unique biodiversity, it lived an extraordinary creature until just over a thousand years ago: AVE-EEFANTEthe largest bird that ever existed, which could reach a height of up to 3 meters and a weight of over 700 kilograms.

This emplurated giant dominated the island’s landscapes during millennia before it is extinguished, about a thousand years agovictim of the changes brought by the arrival of humans.

The-elephant birds belonged to the Order Aepyornithiformes And they were non -flying birds, like their modern relatives the kiwis, ostriches and emus, with which they had a physical resemblance. But their huge size made them unique.

The most imposing species, Aepyornis biggestput the largest known eggs of any amniotic animal, with a volume of up to 13 liters and a weight of about 10.5 kilograms, approximately equivalent to about 150 chicken eggs.

Had Strong legs, long necks and small heads in proportion to their bodies. Yours Wings were vestigiallike those of other non-flying birds, but their powerful legs allowed them to move easily through Madagascar forests and prairies.

Studies of their skulls suggest that, like the kiwis, they may have been night, with reduced visual bodies But a sense of the highly developed smell, tells the.

The discovery of a myth

For centuries, the stories of giant birds in Madagascar – as those told by the French governor Etienne de Flacourtwho wrote about a huge bird called “vouropatra“Which put eggs similar to those of ostrich and lived in remote areas – legends were considered.

Only in the nineteenth century did Science has confirmed its existence.

In the 1830s, European travelers began to find EF eggshuge egg shell ragments – discoveries that attracted scientific attention, especially after the discovery of New Zealandanother extinct species of giant bird.

In 1851, the naturalist Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire He formally described Aepyornis Maximus for the first time based on bones and eggs found on the island.

Interestingly, some eggs of a bird were found on the back of the Australia, thousands of kilometers of Madagascar.

Scientists believe that these eggs may have floated there through ocean currents, such as antarctic circuit current – a phenomenon that also led penguin eggs and ostrich to distant places.

How was Ave-elephant life?

Studies of isotopes and fossils have revealed that fed on leaves and fruits in the forests. Some plants, such as the palm tree Cooked gerardiithey produced fruits with characteristics that may have evolved to be dispersed by these giant birds, such as Casuars help spread seeds in the forests of Australia and New Guinea.

The eggs of the elephant birds were huge but also extremely resistant, with peels up to 3.3mm thick. Females had to extract large amounts of calcium from their bones to produce them, a process that left marks detectable in its feasures.

Embryos found within these eggs show that the offspring already had robust skeletons at birthso they would have been able to move and take care of themselves shortly after the outbreak.

The extinction of the air-elets is closely linked to the arrival of human beings to Madagascar. The first evidence of human presence on the island date from the first millennium DC, And it is believed that by the year 1000 DC these birds had already disappeared.

But they did not get extinguished because humans fell on large numbers; on the contrary, The environmental impact was devastating. The widespread transformation of forests into cattle for cattle using fire destroyed the habitat of many endemic specieslike Ave-elephant.

It is also possible that humans Collect your eggsa practice that would have severely affected a kind of slow reproduction such as the selephant bird.

Although they have been disappeared for centuries, the elephant birds continue to fascinate scientists and enthusiasts. In 2023, an DNA study extracted from eggshells confirmed that its Closer living relative is kiwi From New Zealand, despite the vast geographical distance between the two species.

It is possible that its Common ancestors were flying birds who came to Madagascar and New Zealand at different times, evolving independently towards gigantism and the inability to fly.

Currently, the Avelling eggs are coveted objects by museums and collectors. In 2013, one of them was sold on auction for over 75,000 euros. It is unknown how many omelets did the bidder with his egg.