Paleontologists from Curtin University and elsewhere have examined ancient fossil eggshells of Madagascar’s extinct elephant birds and found that genetic differences in these gigantic birds, which reached 3 m in height and weighed over 500 kg, were linked to eggshell thickness, location, and diet. An artist’s impression of elephant birds in their natural habitat, Madagascar. Image credit: Bonnie Koopmans. “The elephant birds of Madagascar were...
