Aepyornis, an extinct elephant bird in Madagascar, woodcuts, published 1895 - stock illustration

Aepyornis ingens - an elephant bird in Madagascar. The birds (Aepyornithidae, also Madagascar ostriches or Malagasy Vorompatras) are an extinct (about 1000 A.D.) family of ratites with the three genera Aepyornis, Mullerornis and Vorombe. His height was over 3.5 meters. The Frenchman Alfred Grandidier first discovered a fossil of these birds during one of his research trips on the island between 1865 and 1870. Wood engravings, published in 1895.