Elephant bird to carry off large primates; today, lemurs 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. The ancient Malagasy name for the bird is vorompatra, meaning "bird of the Ampatres". The Ampatres are today known as the Androy region of southern Madagascar. Like the ostrich, rhea, cassowary, emu, kiwi and extinct moa, "Mullerornis" and "Aepyornis" were ratites; they could not fly, and their breast bones had no keel. Because Madagascar and Africa separated before the ratite
Bird Island (Western Australia) Australia. The islands are several hundred kilometers north-east of Broome. The western island is one of about 3 dozen islands around the mouth of the Admiralty Gulf which include the Montesquieu group of islands, the Kingsmill Islands and the Low Rocks and Sterna Island Important Bird Area. The island is roughly circular, about in diameter. The eastern island is approximately T-shaped, the two axes being about long. It is located near the Louis Islands in the gulf at the mouth of the King Edward River, near the Mungalalu Truscott Airbase. Bird Island (Western Australia) Bird Island is the name of