After spending the last few days traveling around the world, I thought we could kick it up a notch by traveling back in time. We pretty much need to in order to learn about the extinct Elephant Bird. I know, we don’t usually talk about animals that are no longer in existence but I thought this bird was pretty cool so I wanted to share it with all of you. Back in the day, this large flightless bird was only found on one little island…..yep, you guessed it, Madagascar. I am telling you that island has/had all of the coolest animals. Let’s fire up the DeLorea and head back in time to explore the life of the Elephant Bird, shall we?

World’s Largest Bird

As mentioned, the Elephant Bird was a large, flightless bird. Just how big was it? Great question! Well, they were considered to be the world’s largest bird with an average height around 3 metres (10 feet) and an average weight of 400 kg (880 lbs). That is one large bird! No wonder they figured birds came from Dinosaur lineage. As you can impinge, a bird this big would lay incredibly large eggs. The truth is, their eggs ware no bigger than a tiny chicken egg. Okay, I am just messing with you, their eggs were gigantic. Usually their eggs would have a circumference of over 1 metre (3 feet), so they would probably make a pretty tasty omelette.

Why Did The Elephant Bird Go Extinct?

So what caused these animals to disappear from the planet? There are two main theories and both of them cite human activity as the cause of extinction. I know this is shocking but let’s find out exactly how humans kicked this huge bird off of the planet. The first theory is simple enough – humans hunted the birds into oblivion. Researchers have found evidence indicating that humans regularly ate the eggs of the Elephant Bird. I guess I was right when I said they would make for a good omelette. The second theory is more of a bi-product of human activity. Some researchers believe that humans brought hyper-diseases with them when they settled on the island, which caused the gigantic Elephant Bird to die out. No matter which theory you choose, the end result is the same: an amazing animal went extinct at the hands of human beings. I wonder how many times we will here this same story over the next 100 years!

That does it for our trip to the past. Enjoy the rest of your day and I will see you tomorrow for the last Wild Fact of the week.