elephant bird
See also: elephantbird
English
An elephant bird, Aepyornis hildebrandti
Alternative forms
- elephantbird
Etymology
Apparently from Marco Polo's description of the legendary roc as being capable of seizing a small elephant.
Noun
elephant bird (plural elephant birds)
- Any of the very large extinct flightless birds that make up the genera Aepyornis and Mullerornis within family Aepyornithidae, and lived in Madagascar until the 17th or 18th century; especially Aepyornis maximus.
- 2002, Gregory S. Paul, Dinosaurs of the Air: The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds, page 306:
- The fossil record is also poor for moa and the aepyornid elephant birds, in that both are mainly known from remains that date from historical times.
- 2009, Jonathan Adams, Species Richness: Patterns in the Diversity of Life, page 242:
- Another very notable feature of Madagascar was the elephant bird (Aepyornis maximus), an enormous relative of the ostrich which reached 3 m in height.
- 2013, Roger Safford, Frank Hawkins, The Birds of Africa, Volume VIII: The Malagasy Region, page 107,
- All[of order Struthioniformes] except tinamous are flightless; they include the largest birds ever known (moas and elephant birds) and the largest living bird (Ostrich).
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Translations
extinct flightless bird
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