"When I first felt the weight of the bird whose thigh bone I was holding in my hand, I thought it must be a Malagasy
elephant bird fossil because no birds of this size have ever been reported from Europe.
But a study released Wednesday by British scientists suggests that one species of
elephant bird was even larger than previously thought, with a specimen weighing an estimated 860 kilograms (1,895 pounds) -- about the same as a fully grown giraffe.
Sadly, the
elephant bird went extinct about 1,000 years ago.
A giant egg from an extinct
elephant bird is going up for auction at Christie's in London.
It belonged to the largest bird to have ever lived - the extinct '
elephant bird,' which is thought to have weighed half a ton.
WEDNESDAY WEDNESDAY Attenborough and the Giant Egg BBC2, 8pm Jamie's Dream School Channel 4, 9pm When David Attenborough was filming in Madagascar for Zoo Quest in 1960, he was given pieces of an egg belonging to the extinct
elephant bird, the largest to have ever lived.
Fieldwork has allowed him to collect bones from recently extinct members of the group--the giant moa of New Zealand and the
elephant bird of Madagascar--as well as the living members--ostrich, emu, rhea, kiwi, and cassowary.
It was laid by an
elephant bird more than 400 years ago.
More heavy-handed was Madagascar, 2002, a rendering of an
elephant bird (Aepyornis maximus) bound with rope being led down a sand dune toward a "tall" ship anchored in a shallow harbor.
Some of its animals, the
elephant bird and the little hippopotamus for example, have already disappeared and many more species are threatened.
Dr Nikita Zelenkov, from the Russian Academy of Science and lead author of the findings said: "When I first felt the weight of the bird whose thigh bone I was holding in my hand, I thought it must be a Malagasy
elephant bird fossil because no birds of this size have ever been reported from Europe.
The newly-discovered specimen, discovered in the Taurida Cave on the northern coast of the Black Sea, suggests a bird as giant as the Madagascan
elephant bird or New Zealand moa.