Aepyornis
Encyclopedia
Aepyornis is a genus of aepyornithid
, one of two genera
of ratite
birds endemic to Madagascar
known as elephant birds
. This 400 kilograms (881.8 lb) animal was the world's largest bird until its extinction
, about 1000 years ago.
Aepyornis, which was a giant, flightless ratite native to Madagascar, has been extinct since at least the 17th century. Aepyornis was the world's largest bird, believed to have been over 3 metres (10 ft) tall and weighing close to half a ton – 400 kilograms (881.8 lb). Remains of Aepyornis adults and eggs have been found; in some cases the eggs have a circumference of over 1 meter (3.3 ft) and a length up to 34 centimetres (13.4 in). The egg volume is about 160 times greater than a chicken egg.
, 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 too long ago for the ratite lineage
, Aepyornis had been thought to have dispersed and become flightless and gigantic
in situ
. A land bridge
from elsewhere in Gondwana
to Madagascar for the elephant bird-ostrich lineage was probably available around 85 million years ago.
It is widely believed that the extinction of Aepyornis was an effect of human activity. The birds were initially widespread, occurring from the northern to the southern tip of Madagascar. One theory states that humans hunted the elephant birds to extinction in a very short time for such a large landmass (the blitzkrieg hypothesis). There is indeed evidence that they were killed. However, their eggs may have been the most vulnerable point in their life cycle. A recent archaeological study found fragments of eggshells among the remains of human fires, suggesting that the eggs regularly provided meals for entire families.
The exact time period when they died out is also not certain; tales of these giant birds may have persisted for centuries in folk memory
. There is archaeological evidence of Aepyornis from a radiocarbon-dated
bone at 1880 +/- 70 BP
(c. 120 AD
) with signs of butchering, and on the basis of radiocarbon dating of shells, about 1000 BP (= c. 1000 AD). It is thought that Aepyornis is the Malagasy
legendary extinct animal called the vorompatra , Malagasy for "marsh bird" (vorom translates to "bird"). After many years of failed attempts, DNA molecules of Aepyornis eggs were successfully extracted by a group of international researchers and results were published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
It has also been suggested that the extinction was a secondary effect of human impact due to transfer of hyperdiseases from human commensals such as chicken
s and guineafowl
. The bones of these domesticated fowl have been found in subfossil
sites in the island (MacPhee and Marx, 1997: 188), such as Ambolisatra (Madagascar), where Mullerornis sp. and Aepyornis maximus have been reported.
David Attenborough
in a BBC TV program transmitted in early 2011 said that "very few Aepyornis bones show signs of butchery, so likely there was a Malagasy native taboo
against killing Aepyornis, and that is likely why Aepyornis survived so long after Man arrived there.". But that does not say anything about whether the natives took so many Aepyornis eggs that the species died out.
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, lemur
s 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.
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.
Elephant bird
Elephant birds are an extinct family of flightless birds found only on the island of Madagascar and comprising the genera Aepyornis and Mullerornis.-Description:...
, one of two genera
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of ratite
Ratite
A ratite is any of a diverse group of large, flightless birds of Gondwanan origin, most of them now extinct. Unlike other flightless birds, the ratites have no keel on their sternum—hence the name from the Latin ratis...
birds endemic to Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
known as elephant birds
Elephant bird
Elephant birds are an extinct family of flightless birds found only on the island of Madagascar and comprising the genera Aepyornis and Mullerornis.-Description:...
. This 400 kilograms (881.8 lb) animal was the world's largest bird until its extinction
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
, about 1000 years ago.
Description
Biogeography
Like the cassowaryCassowary
The cassowaries are ratites, very large flightless birds in the genus Casuarius native to the tropical forests of New Guinea, nearby islands and northeastern Australia. There are three extant species recognized today...
, ostrich
Ostrich
The Ostrich is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member of the genus Struthio. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species apart from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a...
, rhea
Rhea (bird)
The rheas are ratites in the genus Rhea, native to South America. There are two existing species: the Greater or American Rhea and the Lesser or Darwin's Rhea. The genus name was given in 1752 by Paul Möhring and adopted as the English common name. Möhring's reason for choosing this name, from the...
, emu
Emu
The Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. There are three subspecies of Emus in Australia...
and kiwi
Kiwi
Kiwi are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand, in the genus Apteryx and family Apterygidae.At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world...
, Aepyornis was a ratite
Ratite
A ratite is any of a diverse group of large, flightless birds of Gondwanan origin, most of them now extinct. Unlike other flightless birds, the ratites have no keel on their sternum—hence the name from the Latin ratis...
; it could not fly, and its breast bone
Sternum
The sternum or breastbone is a long flat bony plate shaped like a capital "T" located anteriorly to the heart in the center of the thorax...
had no keel
Keel (bird)
A keel or carina in bird anatomy is an extension of the sternum which runs axially along the midline of the sternum and extends outward, perpendicular to the plane of the ribs. The keel provides an anchor to which a bird's wing muscles attach, thereby providing adequate leverage for flight...
. Because Madagascar and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
separated too long ago for the ratite lineage
Lineage (evolution)
An evolutionary lineage is a sequence of species, that form a line of descent, each new species the direct result of speciation from an immediate ancestral species. Lineages are subsets of the evolutionary tree of life. Lineages are often determined by the techniques of molecular systematics.-...
, Aepyornis had been thought to have dispersed and become flightless and gigantic
Island gigantism
Island gigantism or insular giantism is a biological phenomenon in which the size of animals isolated on an island increases dramatically in comparison to their mainland relatives....
in situ
In situ
In situ is a Latin phrase which translated literally as 'In position'. It is used in many different contexts.-Aerospace:In the aerospace industry, equipment on board aircraft must be tested in situ, or in place, to confirm everything functions properly as a system. Individually, each piece may...
. A land bridge
Land bridge
A land bridge, in biogeography, is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and colonise new lands...
from elsewhere in Gondwana
Gondwana
In paleogeography, Gondwana , originally Gondwanaland, was the southernmost of two supercontinents that later became parts of the Pangaea supercontinent. It existed from approximately 510 to 180 million years ago . Gondwana is believed to have sutured between ca. 570 and 510 Mya,...
to Madagascar for the elephant bird-ostrich lineage was probably available around 85 million years ago.
Species
Four species are usually accepted in the genus Aepyornis today; A. hildebrandti, A. gracilis, A. medius and A. maximus, but the validity of some is disputed, with numerous authors treating them all in just one species, A. maximus.- Aepyornis gracilis Monnier, 1913
- Aepyornis hildebrandti Burckhardt, 1893
- Aepyornis mulleri Milne-EdwardsAlphonse Milne-EdwardsAlphonse Milne-Edwards was a French mammalologist, ornithologist and carcinologist. He was English in origin, the son of Henri Milne-Edwards and grandson of Bryan Edwards, a Jamaican planter who settled at Bruges .Milne-Edwards obtained a medical degree in 1859 and became assistant to his father...
& GrandidierAlfred GrandidierAlfred Grandidier was a French naturalist and explorer.From a very wealthy family, he and his brother, Ernest Grandidier , undertook a voyage around the world...
, 1894
- Aepyornis mulleri Milne-Edwards
- Aepyornis maximus HilaireIsidore Geoffroy Saint-HilaireIsidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was a French zoologist and an authority on deviation from normal structure. He coined the term ethology.He was born in Paris, the son of Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire...
, 1851- Aepyornis modestus Milne-EdwardsAlphonse Milne-EdwardsAlphonse Milne-Edwards was a French mammalologist, ornithologist and carcinologist. He was English in origin, the son of Henri Milne-Edwards and grandson of Bryan Edwards, a Jamaican planter who settled at Bruges .Milne-Edwards obtained a medical degree in 1859 and became assistant to his father...
& GrandidierAlfred GrandidierAlfred Grandidier was a French naturalist and explorer.From a very wealthy family, he and his brother, Ernest Grandidier , undertook a voyage around the world...
, 1869 - Aepyornis ingens Milne-EdwardsAlphonse Milne-EdwardsAlphonse Milne-Edwards was a French mammalologist, ornithologist and carcinologist. He was English in origin, the son of Henri Milne-Edwards and grandson of Bryan Edwards, a Jamaican planter who settled at Bruges .Milne-Edwards obtained a medical degree in 1859 and became assistant to his father...
& GrandidierAlfred GrandidierAlfred Grandidier was a French naturalist and explorer.From a very wealthy family, he and his brother, Ernest Grandidier , undertook a voyage around the world...
, 1894 - Aepyornis titan AndrewsCharles William AndrewsCharles William Andrews F.R.S., was a British palaeontologist whose career as a vertebrate paleontologist, both as a curator and in the field, was spent in the services of the British Museum, Department of Geology.-Biography:...
, 1894
- Aepyornis modestus Milne-Edwards
- Aepyornis medius Milne-EdwardsAlphonse Milne-EdwardsAlphonse Milne-Edwards was a French mammalologist, ornithologist and carcinologist. He was English in origin, the son of Henri Milne-Edwards and grandson of Bryan Edwards, a Jamaican planter who settled at Bruges .Milne-Edwards obtained a medical degree in 1859 and became assistant to his father...
& GrandidierAlfred GrandidierAlfred Grandidier was a French naturalist and explorer.From a very wealthy family, he and his brother, Ernest Grandidier , undertook a voyage around the world...
, 1866- Aepyornis grandidieri Rowley, 1867
- Aepyornis cursor Milne-EdwardsAlphonse Milne-EdwardsAlphonse Milne-Edwards was a French mammalologist, ornithologist and carcinologist. He was English in origin, the son of Henri Milne-Edwards and grandson of Bryan Edwards, a Jamaican planter who settled at Bruges .Milne-Edwards obtained a medical degree in 1859 and became assistant to his father...
& GrandidierAlfred GrandidierAlfred Grandidier was a French naturalist and explorer.From a very wealthy family, he and his brother, Ernest Grandidier , undertook a voyage around the world...
, 1894 - Aepyornis lentus Milne-EdwardsAlphonse Milne-EdwardsAlphonse Milne-Edwards was a French mammalologist, ornithologist and carcinologist. He was English in origin, the son of Henri Milne-Edwards and grandson of Bryan Edwards, a Jamaican planter who settled at Bruges .Milne-Edwards obtained a medical degree in 1859 and became assistant to his father...
& GrandidierAlfred GrandidierAlfred Grandidier was a French naturalist and explorer.From a very wealthy family, he and his brother, Ernest Grandidier , undertook a voyage around the world...
, 1894
Extinction
The exact time period when they died out is also not certain; tales of these giant birds may have persisted for centuries in folk memory
Folk memory
Folk memories is a term sometimes used to describe stories, folklore or myths about past events that have passed orally from generation to generation. The events described by the memories may date back hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years and often have a local significance...
. There is archaeological evidence of Aepyornis from a radiocarbon-dated
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
bone at 1880 +/- 70 BP
Before Present
Before Present years is a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use AD 1950 as the origin of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon...
(c. 120 AD
Anno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
) with signs of butchering, and on the basis of radiocarbon dating of shells, about 1000 BP (= c. 1000 AD). It is thought that Aepyornis is the Malagasy
Malagasy people
The Malagasy ethnic group forms nearly the entire population of Madagascar. They are divided into two subgroups: the "Highlander" Merina, Sihanaka and Betsileo of the central plateau around Antananarivo, Alaotra and Fianarantsoa, and the côtiers elsewhere in the country. This division has its...
legendary extinct animal called the vorompatra , Malagasy for "marsh bird" (vorom translates to "bird"). After many years of failed attempts, DNA molecules of Aepyornis eggs were successfully extracted by a group of international researchers and results were published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
It has also been suggested that the extinction was a secondary effect of human impact due to transfer of hyperdiseases from human commensals such as chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
s and guineafowl
Guineafowl
The guineafowl are a family of birds in the Galliformes order, although some authorities include the guineafowl as a subfamily, Numidinae, of the family Phasianidae...
. The bones of these domesticated fowl have been found in subfossil
Subfossil
Subfossil refers to remains whose fossilization process is not complete, either for lack of time or because the conditions in which they were buried were not optimal for fossilization....
sites in the island (MacPhee and Marx, 1997: 188), such as Ambolisatra (Madagascar), where Mullerornis sp. and Aepyornis maximus have been reported.
David Attenborough
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
in a BBC TV program transmitted in early 2011 said that "very few Aepyornis bones show signs of butchery, so likely there was a Malagasy native taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
against killing Aepyornis, and that is likely why Aepyornis survived so long after Man arrived there.". But that does not say anything about whether the natives took so many Aepyornis eggs that the species died out.
English name
Marco Polo
Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant traveler from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently...
'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
Fra Mauro map
The Fra Mauro map, "considered the greatest memorial of medieval cartography" according to Roberto Almagià, is a map made around 1450 by the Venetian monk Fra Mauro...
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
Malagasy Crowned Eagle
The Malagasy Crowned Eagle , also known as the Madagascar Crowned Hawk-eagle, was a large bird of prey, comparable in size to the African Crowned Eagle, that inhabited Madagascar until 1500 AD. It probably fed on lemurs...
related to the African Crowned Eagle
Crowned Eagle
The Crowned Eagle or Crowned Hawk-eagle , is a very large, powerful, crested bird of prey found in sub-Saharan Africa; in Southern Africa it is restricted to suitable habitat in the eastern areas. It is the only extant member of the genus Stephanoaetus...
, which has been described in the genus Stephanoaetus
Stephanoaetus
Stephanoaetus is a genus of very large birds of prey from Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. Only one of the two known species is extant.-Species:* Crowned Eagle or Crowned Hawk-eagle ....
from Madagascar, being large enough to carry off large primates; today, lemur
Lemur
Lemurs are a clade of strepsirrhine primates endemic to the island of Madagascar. They are named after the lemures of Roman mythology due to the ghostly vocalizations, reflective eyes, and the nocturnal habits of some species...
s still retain a fear of aerial predators such as these. Another might be the perception of ratites retaining neotenic
Neoteny
Neoteny , also called juvenilization , is one of the two ways by which paedomorphism can arise. Paedomorphism is the retention by adults of traits previously seen only in juveniles, and is a subject studied in the field of developmental biology. In neoteny, the physiological development of an...
features and thus being mistaken for enormous chicks of a presumably more massive bird.
Eggs
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
in Washington holds a specimen of an Aepyornis egg which was given to Luis Marden
Luis Marden
Luis Marden was an American photographer, explorer, writer, filmmaker, diver, navigator, and linguist who worked for National Geographic Magazine. He worked as a photographer and reporter before serving as chief of the National Geographic foreign editorial staff...
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
Harvard Museum of Natural History
The Harvard Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum on the grounds of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.It has three parts:* the Harvard University Herbaria* the Museum of Comparative Zoology* the Harvard Mineralogical Museum....
in Cambridge, MA. A cast of the Aepyornis egg is preserved at the Grant Museum of Zoology at the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
. The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television personality David Attenborough
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
owns an almost complete fossilized eggshell, which he pieced together from fragments he collected on a visit to Madagascar.