Elephant bird birds and human beings and their eventual extinction, as they apparently coexisted for a massive period of time. However, the absence so far for any evidence of human habitation in the succeeding 6000 years raises difficult questions concerning whether the early human presence might have been temporary, and/or restricted to just a portion of the island. 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
Morfil Island the island, but are now locally extinct. The French colonists would use the island for elephant hunting. The main towns on the island are Podor and Salde. Morfil Island Morfil Island (; lit. "Ivory Island") is an island lying between the River Senegal and the Doué River in northern Senegal. "Morfil" is an antiquated French term for raw ivory. It is separate from the mainland for almost 150 km. Around the 11th century, Morfil was the centre of Tekrur, one of the first Islamic Sub-Saharan states. As such, it was an important centre of trans-Saharan trade. The island later became