Largest organisms is frequently poorly documented and many are subject to conjecture and estimation. The largest living bird, a member of the Struthioniformes, is the common ostrich ("Struthio camelus"), from the plains of Africa and Arabia. A large male ostrich can reach a height of and weigh over . A mass of has been cited for the common ostrich but no wild ostriches of this weight have been verified. Eggs laid by the ostrich can weigh and are the largest eggs in the world today. The largest bird in the fossil record may be the extinct elephant birds ("Aepyornis") of Madagascar, which
Yellow-billed loon with other birds on good fishing spots. The female lays two eggs measuring . The eggs are strongly oval, and are a light purple-brown with darker blotches interspersed. This colour camouflages with the soil and vegetation that this bird nests near. Most of the time, although, the egg is not visible due to incubation, which takes around 27 to 29 days. The yellow-billed loon is a specialist fish eater, though it also takes crustaceans, molluscs and annelids, especially for its young. It dives in pursuit of prey, which is caught underwater. Probably as a way to avoid spreading parasites, it