Aepyornis

American  

[ee-pee-awr-nis] / ˌi piˈɔr nɪs /

noun

1. an extinct genus of ratite birds, best known from the Pleistocene Epoch of Madagascar, having massive legs and rudimentary wings, and growing to a height of 8 feet (2.4 meters).

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aepyornis British  

/ ˌiːpɪˈɔːnɪs /

noun

1. any of the large extinct flightless birds of the genus Aepyornis, remains of which have been found in Madagascar

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Etymology

Origin of Aepyornis

< New Latin (1850) < Greek aipý ( s ) steep, lofty, + órnīs bird

Example Sentences

Hard-shelled eggs vary in size, from small eggs, such as that of a hummingbird or chicken, to the huge egg that belongs to the extinct Madagascan elephant bird, Aepyornis maximus.

From Nature

Last year a complete egg of an aepyornis maximus, otherwise known as an elephant bird, sold for $130,000 – roughly five times what it would have gone for a decade earlier.

From The Guardian

Just a few thousand years ago, gargantuan fauna roamed the planet, from the gorilla-sized sloth lemur Archaeoindris fontoynontii to the elephant bird Aepyornis maximus.

From Nature

His conclusion, published Wednesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science, is that there were actually three genera of elephant bird rather than two, and four species rather than 15: Mulleornis modestus, Aepyornis hildebrandti, Aepyornis maximus and Vorombe titan.

From New York Times

One of those species, A. maximus, had long been considered the heaviest elephant bird, until a British scientist in 1894 claimed to have discovered an even larger species, Aepyornis titan.

From New York Times