Elephant bird Elephant bird 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 CE, for reasons that are unclear, although human activity is the suspected cause. Elephant birds comprised the genera "Mullerornis", "Vorombe" and "Aepyornis". While they were in close geographical proximity to the ostrich, their closest living relatives are kiwi, suggesting that ratites did not diversify by vicariance during the breakup of Gondwana but instead evolved from ancestors that dispersed more recently by flying. In September 2018, scientists
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