About this product
Complete Elephant Bird Egg – Perhaps unsurprisingly given their gargantuan size, the Elephant Bird was originally believed to have been the giant flying beast known as the Roc (or Ruhk). This legendary bird of prey is perhaps a distorted version of Aepyornis Maximus, immortalised in the tales of Sinbad and accounts of Marco Polo’s voyages. In Sanskrit epics the mythic bird Garuda carried a battling elephant in its talons, which is how the species received its colloquial name. Despite this association, the Elephant Bird’s diet instead comprised forest fruits.
The egg of an Elephant Bird is a seldom seen specimen. Rarer still are examples with complete and intact shells like the present lot. Fewer than 40 such eggs populate public collections around the world. One reason for the rarity of these eggs would have been their culinary appeal for the human settlers of Madagascar. A single Elephant bird egg could easily feed a large group, and as a result they were highly sought after for nourishment. Their redefined status as a desirable food source for humans almost certainly contributed to their extinction. These curved eggs, with their cream or pale hues and gently perforated shells, are not only visually beautiful, but an enduring symbol of a creature revered in both science and legend.
