WHAT WAS AN ELEPHANT BIRD?
It was a giant, flightless bird characterized by thick, hearty legs and vestigial wings. While its external appearance can never be confirmed, this immense creature may have resembled a ponderous ostrich in life. Analyses of complete preserved skeletal specimens indicate that these birds may have reached heights in excess of 10 feet. Aepyornis maximus produced the largest known bird egg, and maybe the largest egg ever produced by any animal with respect to volume. Only large theropod dinosaurs produced longer eggs. The vast majority of Aepyornis maximus eggs are recovered from sand dunes bordering the sea. Coastal erosion during the monsoon season frequently releases them from muds in which they are found. Less that 30 complete specimens have been documented and preserved in museum collections, which is indicative of the extreme rarity of such an offering. The Malagasy Elephant Birds did not become extinct until historic times—possibly not until the beginning of the 17th Century. Nativ
