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
Rotamah Island Bird Observatory island to Ninety Mile Beach. These factors give visitors easy access to both freshwater and marine habitats. There is a small population of the introduced Hog Deer on the island. In 2001 negotiations between Birds Australia and Parks Victoria, on renewal of the lease to the observatory, broke down and Birds Australia's association with Rotamah Island ended. Rotamah Island Bird Observatory Rotamah Island Bird Observatory was established in 1979 on Rotamah Island in the Gippsland Lakes National Park in eastern Victoria, Australia, by Birds Australia as Australia's second bird observatory, in order to provide a base for the study and