File:Aepyornis_maximus.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
elephant bird
Sign in to saveAlso known as elephant bird family, Aepyornithidae
family of birds (subfossil)
The elephant bird was a family of enormous flightless birds that lived in Madagascar and are known today only through fossil remains. These giant birds, which went extinct centuries ago, are scientifically important for understanding the evolution of large land animals and Madagascar's unique wildlife history.
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- Aepyornis maximus.jpg
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- taxon common name
- oiseau-éléphant
- taxon name
- Aepyornithidae
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- Aepyornithidae
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Article
Elephant birds are extinct flightless birds belonging to the order Aepyornithiformes that were native to the island of Madagascar. They are thought to have gone extinct around 1000 AD, likely as a result of human activity. There are three currently recognised species, one in the genus Mullerornis, and two in Aepyornis. Aepyornis maximus is possibly the largest bird to have ever lived, with their eggs being the largest known for any amniote. Elephant birds were herbivores and major components of Madagascar's pre-human ecosystems. Elephant birds are palaeognaths (whose flightless representatives are often known as ratites), and their closest living relatives are kiwi (found only in New Zealand), suggesting that ratites did not diversify by vicariance during the breakup of Gondwana but instead convergently evolved flightlessness from ancestors that dispersed more recently by flying.
Discovery