Aepyornis

Aepyornis is a genus of aepyornithid, one of three genera of ratite birds endemic to Madagascar until their extinction about 1000 A.D. The species A. maximus weighed up to 540 kilograms (1,200 lb), and until recently was regarded as the largest known bird of all time. However, in 2018 the largest aepyornithid specimens, weighing up to 730 kilograms (1,600 lb), were moved to the related genus Vorombe. Brodkorb (1963) listed four species of Aepyornis as valid: A. hildebrandti, A. gracilis, A. medius and A. maximus, However, Hume and Walters (2012) listed only one species, A. maximus. Most recently, Hansford and Turvey (2018) recognized only A. hildebrandti and A. maximus. The nominal species Aepyornis titan Andrews, 1894 was placed in the separate genus Vorombe by Hansford and Turvey (2018), with A. ingens a synonym of titan. Aepyornis grandidieri Rowley, 1867 is an ootaxon known only from an eggshell fragment and hence a nomen dubium. Hansford and Truvey (2018) also found Aepyornis modestus a senior synonym of all Mullerornis nominal species, making modestus the epithet of the Mullerornis type species. Like the cassowary, ostrich, rhea, emu and kiwi, Aepyornis was a ratite; it could not fly, and its breast bone had no keel. Because Madagascar and Africa separated before the ratite lineage arose, Aepyornis has been thought to have dispersed and become flightless and gigantic in situ. More recently, it has been deduced from DNA sequence comparisons that the closest living relatives of elephant birds are New Zealand kiwis, indicating that the ancestors of elephant birds dispersed to Madagascar from Australasia. Aepyornis maximus is commonly known as the 'elephant bird', a term that apparently originated from Marco Polo's account of the rukh in 1298, although he was apparently referring to an eagle-like bird strong enough to 'seize an elephant with its talons'. Sightings of eggs of elephant birds by early sailors (e.g. text on the Fra Mauro map of 1467–69, if not attributable to ostriches) could also have been erroneously attributed to a giant raptor from Madagascar. The legend of the roc could also have originated from sightings of such a giant subfossil eagle related to the African crowned eagle, which has been described in the genus Stephanoaetus from Madagascar, being large enough to carry off large primates; today, lemurs still retain a fear of aerial predators such as these. Another might be the perception of ratites retaining neotenic features and thus being mistaken for enormous chicks of a presumably more massive bird. Aepyornis, which was a giant, flightless ratite native to Madagascar, has probably been extinct since at least the 11th century (1000 AD). Aepyornis was one of the world's largest birds, believed to have been up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) tall, with weights in the range 210–340 kilograms (460–750 lb) for A. hildebrandti and 330–540 kilograms (730–1,200 lb) for A. maximus. Remains of Aepyornis adults and eggs have been found; in some cases the eggs have a circumference of over 1 m (3 ft 3 in) and a length up to 34 cm (13 in). The egg volume is about 160 times greater than a chicken egg. Aepyornithid endocasts have shown that these animals had poor eyesight and large olfactory bulbs, much like living kiwis. This has been interpreted as a sign that, like them, elephant birds were nocturnal. Occasionally the subfossilized eggs are found intact. The National Geographic Society in Washington holds a specimen of an Aepyornis egg which was given to Luis Marden in 1967. The specimen is intact and contains an embryonic skeleton of the unborn bird. Another giant Aepyornis egg is on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge, MA. A cast of the Aepyornis egg is preserved at the Grant Museum of Zoology at the University of London. The BBC television personality David Attenborough owns an almost complete fossilized eggshell, which he pieced together from fragments he collected on a visit to Madagascar.