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
Saddleback (bird) Saddleback (bird) The saddlebacks or tieke are two species of New Zealand bird of the family Callaeidae. Both are glossy black with a chestnut saddle. Its taxonomic family is also known as that of the (New Zealand) "wattlebirds" and includes the two subspecies of the kōkako (the extant North Island kokako monitored on island sanctuaries, and the extinct South Island kokako) as well as the extinct huia. All members of this family have coloured fleshy appendages on either side of the beak known as "wattles". In the case of the saddlebacks, they are a vivid red in colour. Its common