The elephant bird egg is the largest egg in history, measuring 33 cm in length, equivalent to 150 – 180 chicken eggs.
The largest egg still in existence today belongs to the ostrich. The largest ostrich egg on record weighs 2.589 kg, which is about the weight of a small house cat. This type of egg has an average length of 15 cm and a width of 13 cm, but it only weighs about 1.4% of the weight of the female bird. This is an unusually low figure for such a large bird. In comparison, female kiwi birds lay eggs that weigh around 15 – 22% of their body weight.
Ostrich egg (left) next to the elephant bird egg. (Photo: Flickr).
However, the title of the largest egg in history belongs to the elephant bird (Aepyornis maximus), a bird that roamed the island of Madagascar until about 1,000 years ago. They laid eggs measuring up to 33 cm in length, capable of holding 8.5 liters of liquid, according to the Guinness World Records.
The elephant bird weighed over 450 kg, equivalent to three pandas, which explains why their eggs are so gigantic. However, even to the naked eye, the egg still appears astonishingly large. In 2018, the Buffalo Museum of Science discovered they had an elephant bird egg weighing 1.5 kg in their collection, which they had previously mistaken for a fake egg.
“Artifacts and misclassified specimens have existed in museums for centuries. We were amazed to rediscover this rare egg in the collection,” said Kathryn Leacock, the collection director at the museum.
Despite its impressive size, the enormous egg (comparable to 150 – 180 chicken eggs) may have contributed to the extinction of the elephant bird. They were too enticing for humans, evidenced by the numerous egg shells found around ancient human campsites, indicating that people stole elephant bird eggs for food. Combined with habitat changes and hunting, the elephant bird went extinct around 1,000 years ago, and the ostrich inherited the title of the largest egg.
