Giant Elephant Bird
Aepyornis maximus
📈🦅
Chordata
Aves
Aepyornithidae
Aepyornis maximus
Towering at over 3 meters tall and laying the largest eggs ever known, Aepyornis maximus — the "Giant Elephant Bird" — reigned as the heaviest bird to ever walk the Earth. Native to Madagascar, it was a silent victim of human arrival and ecological change.
Description
Aepyornis maximus, commonly known as the Giant Elephant Bird, was native to Madagascar and is considered one of the largest birds to have ever existed. Standing about 3 meters tall, these flightless birds had massive, robust bodies with vestigial wings, rendering them incapable of flight. Their legs were thick and strong, supporting their substantial weight, and they possessed long necks with relatively small heads. The beak was straight, thick, and conical, suitable for their herbivorous diet, primarily consisting of foliage, fruits, and possibly seeds. Their eggs were enormous, measuring between 26.4 and 34 centimeters in length and 19.4 and 24.5 centimeters in width, with a volume of approximately 5.6 to 13 liters, making them the largest known eggs of any animal.
Quick Facts
Max Mass
Shoulder Height
Standing Height
Length
Diet
Trophic Level
1000
1.8
3.4
3
kg
m
m
m
Mixed Feeder
Herbivores – Browsers
Hunt History
There is no solid evidence that early human inhabitants of Madagascar actively hunted Aepyornis maximus adults — their size and strength may have deterred such attempts. However, the eggs were widely exploited for food. Burned and cut eggshell fragments have been found in archaeological contexts, and environmental degradation caused by slash-and-burn agriculture likely pushed the species to extinction. The loss of the Elephant Birds marks one of the clearest cases of human-driven extinction of megafauna.
Time & Range
Extinction Status
Globally Extinct
Extinction Date
Temporal Range
Region
1880
BP
Late Pleistocene
Madagascar
Wiki Link
Fat Analysis
Fatness Profile:
Medium
Fat %
8
Est. Renderable Fat
80
kg
Targeted Organs
Subcutaneous skin fat, marrow (limited)
Adipose Depots
Subcutaneous skin fat; marrow limited
Preferred Cuts
Skin fat
Hunt Difficulty (x/5)
4