Towering around nine feet tall – half of that neck – and weighing in at more than 300 pounds, ostriches are the biggest birds on the planet today.
But there once was an even bigger bird, which roamed Madagascar before dying out roughly 1,000 years ago: the elephant bird.
Scientists don't know much about these massive birds. But a study recently published in Nature Communications has revealed new details about their lives – through a novel analysis of fossilized eggshells.
"[Elephant birds] weigh well over 1,000 pounds ... they lay an egg that's about a foot and a half in length," said Gifford Miller, a professor at University of Colorado, Boulder and one of the co-authors of the study.
https://www.npr.org/2023/03/09/1162024728/giant-eggshells-madagascar-elephant-birds-science-research
But there once was an even bigger bird, which roamed Madagascar before dying out roughly 1,000 years ago: the elephant bird.
Scientists don't know much about these massive birds. But a study recently published in Nature Communications has revealed new details about their lives – through a novel analysis of fossilized eggshells.
"[Elephant birds] weigh well over 1,000 pounds ... they lay an egg that's about a foot and a half in length," said Gifford Miller, a professor at University of Colorado, Boulder and one of the co-authors of the study.
https://www.npr.org/2023/03/09/1162024728/giant-eggshells-madagascar-elephant-birds-science-research