Elephant bird determined that "Vorombe titan" reached weights of and stood tall, making it the world's largest bird, slightly larger than the much older "Dromornis stirtoni". Elephant birds have been extinct since at least the 17th century. Étienne de Flacourt, a French governor of Madagascar in the 1640s and 1650s, mentions an ostrich-like bird said to inhabit unpopulated regions, though it is unclear whether he was repeating folk tales passed on from generations earlier. In 1659, Flacourt wrote of the "vouropatra – a large bird which haunts the Ampatres and lays eggs like the ostriches; so that the people of these places
Bleaker Island by stands of tussac grass. The island is home to a wide variety of wildlife including southern sea lions with some visiting southern elephant seals. Norway rats were accidentally introduced to the island in the 1980s. They have now spread throughout the island and onto First, Second and Third Islands. Overgrazing was a problem but reduced grazing pressure is helping the slow regeneration of tussac and native flowering plants. The Bleaker Island group has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area. A survey identified 49 bird species on the islands, 37 of which were confirmed as breeding