The Elephant Bird
Family/†Aepyornithidae

The habitat of the Elephant Bird was the island of Madagascar, off the eastern coast of Africa. The island was first populated by African and Indonesian peoples that are thought to have arrived around the time of Christ, about 2000 years ago. The first Europeans to visit the island were the Portuguese in 1500, but it was only in 1642 when the French settled there on a permanent basis. The presence of the bird was first documented by the first French Governor when he described as ostrich-like and having the tendency to lay eggs in lonely places. In fact, it was named Vouron Patra (marsh bird) by the French. The reasons for their extinction are not very clear. But one of the causes has to be the animosity between the French settlers and the native tribes. The native’s scriptures often portray the Elephant Bird as a shy, peaceful giant. But they probably raided their nests often enough to cause a complete breakdown in the food chain. The eggs and egg shells were both very important items to the native tribes, who used them for food and ornaments.

The Elephant Bird

The elephant birds, which were giant ratites native to Madagascar, have been extinct since at least the 16th century. Aepyornis was the world's largest bird, believed to have been over three meters (10 feet) tall and weighing close to half a ton (454 kilograms, or 1,000 pounds), although it was exceeded in skull size (28 inches) by an unclassified Phorusrhacoid unearthed in October 2006.[1] Remains of Aepyornis adults and eggs have been found; in some cases the eggs have a circumference of over one meter (three feet) and a length up to 34 cm (Mlíkovsky, 2003). The egg volume is about 160 times greater than a chicken egg (Hawkins and Goodman, 2003: 1026).

Elephant Bird - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

he Elephant Bird is thought to have been the inspiration for the Roc (or Ruhk) made famous in the stories of Sinbad and the accounts of Marco Polo. While Aepyornis was by no means as large and terrible as the elephant-eating Roc, it WAS the largest bird that ever lived. The flightless bird grew to around ten or eleven feet tall, and is estimated to have weighed up to 1100 pounds. By comparison, a BIG Ostrich will go eight feet and 300 pounds. Only the largest of the New Zealand Moas were taller, some reaching thirteen feet, but they weren't as massively built.

The Elephant Bird

Their eggs, the largest single cells in the animal kingdom, measured up to 13 in. (33 cm) in length and held a liquid content estimated at two gallons (7.5 liters).

elephant bird – FREE elephant bird Information | Encyclopedia.com: Facts, Pictures, Information!

The elephant bird was probably vegetarian, unlike the fabulously jumbophagous roc, and unlike earlier groups of giant carnivorous birds such as the phorusrhachoid family of the New World. They could grow to the same height as Aepyornis, with a fearsomely hooked beak which, as if in justification of their nickname of 'feathered tyrannosaurs', looks capable of swallowing a medium–sized lawyer whole. These monstrous cranes seem at first sight better casting for the role of the terrifying roc than Aepyornis, but they went extinct too long ago to have started the legend, and in any case Sinbad (or his real–life Arab counterparts) never visited the Americas.

The elephant bird's tale | New Humanist

The elephant bird egg is 12.83 inches by 15.35 inches and weighed a massive 27 pounds.

Largest egg ever in the world. Vegreville elephant bird ostrich.

Now that's some bird!

I've read about them before, crazy big birds!