Elephant bird bird" egg after it was radiographed. It is widely believed that the extinction of "Aepyornis" was a result of human activity. The birds were initially widespread, occurring from the northern to the southern tip of Madagascar. One theory states that humans hunted the elephant birds to extinction in a very short time for such a large landmass (the Blitzkrieg hypothesis). There is indeed evidence that they were hunted and their preferred habitats destroyed. Eggs may have been particularly vulnerable. 19th-century travelers saw eggshells used as bowls, and a recent archaeological study found remains of eggshells among the remains of human
Saddleback (bird) South Island snipe, bush wren and greater short-tailed bat. Saddleback have since been relocated to island nature reserves around New Zealand, and also to mainland fenced sanctuaries. Since roughly 2015, sporadic sightings and evidence of breeding has been confirmed in Polhill Reserve, which neighbours the fenced Zealandia wildlife sanctuary. These have been the first sightings on New Zealand's un-fenced mainland since the bird was declared extinct on the mainland in 1910. The recovery of the saddleback is considered by many to be one of New Zealand's greatest conservation success stories. Saddleback (bird) The saddlebacks or tieke are two species of