The exact time period when they died out is also not certain; tales of these giant birds may have persisted for centuries in folk memory. There is archaeological evidence of "Aepyornis" from a radiocarbon-dated bone at 1880 +/- 70 BP (c. AD 120) with signs of butchering, and on the basis of radiocarbon dating of shells, about 1000 BP (= c. AD 1000). It is thought that "Aepyornis" is the Malagasy legendary extinct animal called the "vorompatra" (pronounced ), Malagasy for "marsh bird" ("vorom" translates to "bird"). After many years of failed attempts, DNA molecules of "Aepyornis" eggs were successfully extracted by a group of international researchers and results were published in the "Proceedings of the Royal Society B".