In a recent shocking discovery, staff members at the New York's Buffalo Science Museum found a giant replica of an extinct elephant bird egg that was kept safe in their collection is actually a real specimen. This gigantic and flightless bird went extinct in Madagascar hundreds of years ago and the staffers at the museum never even gave a thought that their model in the collection was actually real. The 12 inch long egg has a weight of around three pounds and is completely intact. There are not even 40 intact or nearly intact eggs available around the globe of the long extinct birds.

According to the record available by the museum, the egg was acquired by them from Edward Gerrard and Sons which was a London based firm and were involved in taxidermy specimen trading in 1939. Cases of misidentified and hidden artifacts and specimens is not so uncommon in the museums that are involved in collecting rare objects for centuries. The Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences have been collecting since 1862 and they are thrilled to rediscover this rare egg in their collection. The discovery can prove to be of major importance to paleontologists who have been studying the life, history and characteristics of long extinct birds. A single egg of an elephant bird is equal to 150 chicken eggs and were one of the biggest eggs among all the vertebrate, even more than that of dinosaurs.

By: Neha Maheshwari

Content: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/giant-intact-egg-extinct-elephant-bird-found-buffalo-museum-180968850/