Elephant bird mystery solved? The discovery may explain the disappearance of the largest birds in the world

The excavation site of the Christmas River in Madagascar where the bones of elephants have been discovered / Illustration of elephant birds

(Credit: ZSL / Alain_Rasolo)

The analysis of the now extinct elephant bones could shed new light on the fate of giant poultry.

A team of scientists led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has studied the skeletons of huge birds found on the Indian Ocean island in Madagascar. The species of birds 10 feet tall (known as Aepyornis and Mullerornis) weighed up to 1,100 pounds.

The bones were found in 2009 on the site of the Christmas River in Madagascar. According to the experts, prehistoric hunters have probably made cuts and broken bones. Using radiocarbon dating, scientists discovered that the birds were killed about 10,500 years ago.

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The study is important because previous research on lemur bones and other artifacts indicated that humans arrived in Madagascar 2,400 to 4,000 years ago. Butchery bones therefore suggest that humans have reached the island much earlier than expected.

The scientists published their findings in the journal Science Advances.

The new research is also reviving the debate over whether humans have caused the extinction of the giant bird, according to Science. "We already know that Madagascar's megafauna – elephant birds, hippopotamuses, giant tortoises and giant lemurs – died less than 1,000 years ago," said Dr. James Hansford of the ZSL Zoological Institute. "There are a number of theories about the reason for this situation, but the extent of human involvement has not been clear."

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Indeed, the latest study suggests that humans may have coexisted with elephant birds for millennia. "Our research provides evidence of human activity in Madagascar more than 6,000 years earlier than expected – demonstrating that a radically different extinction theory is needed to understand the world". huge loss of biodiversity occurred on the island, "said Hansford. "Humans seem to have coexisted with elephant and other species that have been extinct for more than 9,000 years, apparently with a limited negative impact on biodiversity for most of this period, providing new opportunities for conservation today.

Nevertheless, there are still questions to ask about the first humans of Madagascar. "We know that at the end of the ice age, when humans only used stone tools, a group of humans arrived in Madagascar," said the study's co-author, the professor. Patricia Wright of Stony Brook University. "We do not know the origin of these people and we will not know until we find other archaeological evidence, but we know there is no evidence of their genes in modern populations. The question remains: who were these people? And when and why did they disappear?

The marsh where the bones were found contained a large number of ancient animal remains. Experts speculate that the site may be a major "killing site" where prehistoric humans have slaughtered their prey, but say more research is needed before it can be confirmed.

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Earlier this year, the Buffalo Museum of Science in Buffalo, New York, revealed that a rare elephant egg in its collection had been mislabeled for decades. The egg had been wrongly labeled as a model.

Austrian archaeologists have recently discovered a horrible "assassination site" where Stone Age people were slaughtering mammoths. The site, which was found during the construction of a new bypass at Drasenhofen on the Czech border, contains tusks and mammoth bones. The remains have been dated between 18,000 and 28,000 years ago.

Stephen Sorace of Fox News contributed to this article.

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