A three-metre-tall, and up to 800kg body weight bird has been declared as the world’s largest bird.
A three-metre-tall bird, identified to have become extinct around 1,000 years ago in Madagascar, has been declared as the world’s largest bird.
A study published in Royale Society Open Science has named the bird as “Vorombe Titan”.
With approximately 800kg body weight, it belonged to the family of flightless animals including the kiwi and the ostrich.
The research claims the bird died out after being hunted by humans.
Vorombe is one of three genera of elephant birds, an extinct family of large ratite birds endemic to Madagascar.
Specimens belonging to the genus include the heaviest known birds, and were originally considered to be large Aepyornis specimens.
The name Vorombe is derived from the Malagasy word vorombe meaning “big bird” while the specific name titan is derived from the Ancient Greek word Τιτάν (Titan), which refers to the Greek gods that preceded the Twelve Olympians.
