AEPYORNIS

also called elephant bird, extinct genus of giant flightless birds found as fossils in Pleistocene and post-Pleistocene deposits on the island of Madagascar. The remains of Aepyornis are abundant. The several known species were massively constructed, with conical beaks, short, thick legs, three-toed feet, and relatively small wings that were useless for flight. The birds were probably slow-moving inhabitants of forests. The skull in Aepyornis was of small size, and the neck was long and slim. Some forms of Aepyornis attained very large size; Aepyornis titan, or maximus, stood 3 m (10 feet) high and weighed about 450 kg (1,000 pounds). The fossilized remains of Aepyornis eggs are relatively common, both fragmented and intact. The eggs of the giant forms were apparently the largest eggs ever laid by any animal. One of the largest intact specimens is 89 cm (35 inches) in circumference around its long axis and probably had a capacity of about nine litres (more than two gallons). A few Aepyornis eggs contain the bones of embryonic young. Though Aepyornis occurred relatively late in the geologic record, it was a primitive member of the ratites, an evolutionary lineage that includes the ostrich, rhea, and emu. Aepyornis species survived on Madagascar well into the period of the island's human occupation. The birds became extinct sometime in the last 1,000 years, probably as a result of hunting and habitat loss due to deforestation. Aepyornis may have given rise to the Arabic legend of the roc, a gigantic bird.