Specimen Showcase | A Bird with Elephant-sized Legs🐘🐤

We sometimes describe chubby legs as “elephant legs”. In nature, #ElephantBirds (Family Aepyornithidae) are also named for their massive legs.

Very few people have heard of Elephant Birds because they have been extinct probably since the 17th century😢. Research could be only conducted using the skeletal and eggshell remains. Little is known about these birds, so there are many debates on their taxonomy, behaviour and ecology.

A replica egg of the Giant Elephant Bird

Although Elephant Birds look like ostriches, their closest living relatives are #Kiwi in New Zealand. They both are flightless nocturnal birds, but Elephant Birds evolved to become much gigantic on the isolated island of #Madagascar.

Comparison among the sizes of an Elephant Bird, a man and an ostrich

So far, what we know for sure is that Elephant Birds are the #largestbirds that ever lived and they laid the #largesteggs🥚 of all animals including dinosaurs🦖🦕!😮 For instance, #GiantElephantBird (𝘈𝘦𝘱𝘺𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘮𝘶𝘴, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1850) can reach a height of 3 meters and more than 400kg!😮

Comparison among bird eggs at HKBM: Top: Giant Elephant Bird (32cm long); Middle: Common Ostrich (13cm long); Bottom: Common Cuckoo (1.8cm long)

At HKBM, we display a replica egg🥚 of the Giant Elephant Bird (32cm long), which is also the largest egg in our collection. Do check it out when you visit us!

#madagascarmegafauna #extinction #birds #biodiversity #specimensshowcase #specimens #HKBM