Welcome
Artist rendition of an aepyornis.
If you visited Madagascar before the early 1700's you might have been able to see giant birds that were as tall as a basketball hoop and weighed as much as an American alligator. These huge birds were called aepyornis (pronounced ee-pee-OR-nis) or 'elephant birds'. Aepyornis means "the bird as big as a mountain" and they were named that by M.I.G. Saint-Hilaire.
Marco Polo, a Italian explorer who lived in the 13th century, returned from an expedition to Madagascar to tell stories of the monstrous birds he'd seen. He called them 'elephant birds' because of their huge size. He believed they were the source for the fictional bird called the Rukh or Roc.
By the early 1700s the last aepyornis had died. There are very few written accounts about them and science has had to rely on fossilized bones and eggs to tell us about this fascinating bird. Whole eggs have continued to be found on the sandy southern shores of Madagascar. Currently there are about 30 known intact eggs either in private collections or at museums like the American Natural History Museum in New York City and the Denver Museum of History and Science (who have two(!) of whole eggs).
Marco Polo, a Italian explorer who lived in the 13th century, returned from an expedition to Madagascar to tell stories of the monstrous birds he'd seen. He called them 'elephant birds' because of their huge size. He believed they were the source for the fictional bird called the Rukh or Roc.
By the early 1700s the last aepyornis had died. There are very few written accounts about them and science has had to rely on fossilized bones and eggs to tell us about this fascinating bird. Whole eggs have continued to be found on the sandy southern shores of Madagascar. Currently there are about 30 known intact eggs either in private collections or at museums like the American Natural History Museum in New York City and the Denver Museum of History and Science (who have two(!) of whole eggs).
Copyright 2010-12 by Nancy A. Cavanaugh
