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
North Island piopio North Island piopio The North Island piopio ("Turnagra tanagra") was a passerine bird of the family Oriolidae. The North Island piopio is now considered to be extinct. For many years, the North Island piopio was considered to be conspecific with the South Island piopio, but the two are now regarded as two separate species due to their pronounced differences in external appearance and osteology (Olson "et al.", 1983). An alternate name for the North Island piopio is the North Island thrush. The North Island piopio was endemic to the North Island of New Zealand and was described by Walter Buller