How large is an elephant bird egg?

12 inches long
Elephant bird eggs were equally gargantuan—the largest of any bird. At 12 inches long and 8 inches wide, each egg weighed roughly 18 pounds, which equates to around 148 to 160 chicken eggs, give or take.

What is a elephant bird egg?

A Giant Egg The eggs produced by elephant birds are the largest of any known species, with a capacity of up to 2 gallons, even exceeding dinosaur eggs in size! An elephant bird egg is large enough to hold the content of up to 7 ostrich eggs, 180 chicken eggs or 12,000 hummingbird eggs.

How much is an elephant bird egg worth?

Today, April 30, Sotheby’s in London will auction off an “intact and complete” elephant bird’s egg—and it can be yours for somewhere between the low, low price of $45,726 and the slightly higher, but still-pretty-reasonable-when-you think-about-it price of $76,210.

Is an elephant bird egg bigger than an ostrich?

Aepyornis maximus not only produced the largest egg, but it is the largest bird that ever lived with a height of ten feet and a weight of up to 1,000 pounds (compared to an ostrich that weighs 300 pounds). Its egg is 180 times bigger than a chicken egg and 7 times larger than an ostrich egg.

How many elephant bird eggs are there?

Humans pillaged the elephant birds’ nests, which likely played a role in driving the animals towards extinction. Today, few of the bird’s gargantuan eggs survive; fewer than 40 are known to exist in public institutions.

What’s the rarest bird egg in the world?

The Jerdon’s Courser egg is 2-3cm long and is similar to the size of a small duck’s egg. The next step was a DNA analysis and other tests. DNA was extracted from dried up membrane very gently scraped from the inside of the egg.

Where are elephant bird eggs found?

Madagascar
There are less than 40 intact eggs in public institutions. Elephant birds are flightless and only found in Madagascar. The eggs served as a food source for people which likely led to its extinction in more than 600 years ago. “This egg is the equivalent of about 150 chicken eggs,” said Leacock.

What lays the biggest egg in the world?

ostrich
While an ostrich lays the world’s largest bird’s egg, it is actually the smallest in proportion to the mother at just 2% of her body weight. In fact, kiwi eggs are six times bigger than other birds of the same size.

Which bird lays the biggest egg?

But what land bird lays the biggest egg for its body size? That would be the North Island brown kiwi, says Kathy Brader, senior bird keeper at the National Zoo, which in 1975 bred the first kiwi outside its native New Zealand. A female kiwi lays an egg that is 15 to 22 percent of her weight.

Is the elephant bird extinct?

ExtinctElephant bird / Extinction status

Elephant birds are members of the extinct ratite family Aepyornithidae, made up of large to enormous flightless birds that once lived on the island of Madagascar. They became extinct, perhaps around 1000–1200 AD, probably as a result of human activity.

What is the biggest egg in the world?

The Ostrich is the biggest bird in the world and can weigh as much as 180kg. They also lay the biggest egg in the world – one ostrich egg weighs about 1, 5 kg and is equivalent to 24 chicken eggs.