象鳥

象鳥（又叫隆鳥，學名：Aepyornis maximus）係一種已絕種嘅巨型雀鳥。其下有「象鳥屬」同「Mullerornis」兩屬，至少喺16世紀以前就已絕種。兩隻翼萎縮，唔可以飛，胸骨沒有龍骨脊，只可以跑。馬達加斯加人叫佢哋做「Vorompatra」，意思係指「沼澤地裏面嘅雀鳥」。

How to read a taxobox 象鳥/隆鳥
象鳥骨同埋蛋
瀕危指標
已絕種
物種分類
界 動物界 門 脊索動物門 綱 鳥綱 Superorder: 古顎總目（Paleognathae） 目 鴕形目（Struthioniformes） 科 †Aepyornithidae Bonaparte，1853年
Genera
†Aepyornis †Mullerornis

比例

象鳥（紫色部份）同人、鴕鳥、恐龍嘅身型比較

象鳥曾經係世界上最大隻嘅雀鳥之一，重達450公斤。成鳥同蛋都陸續被發現，某啲蛋甚至有超過一公尺周長（34cm長）。而家有4個種被歸類於「象鳥屬」之下：A. hildebrandti、A. gracilis、A. medius和A. maximus (Brodkorb, 1963)，但呢個分類並唔係完全無爭論過嘅，有啲作者會將其歸類喺同一個種A. maximus裏面。象鳥屬於古顎總目，同鴕鳥親緣較近。

華盛頓國家地理學會中擺咗一隻由路易斯·馬登喺1967年發現嘅隆鳥蛋。呢隻蛋絲毫未損，而且裏面重有一隻未出世小鳥嘅胚胎骨架。

習性

象鳥生活喺沼澤林裏面，食植物為生。食低處植物時好似長頸鹿咁長條頸去夠高嘅地方食。

分布

馬達加斯加嘅獨有品種，生活喺沼澤林裏面。

絕種原因

喺象鳥以前築巢嘅海灘上面，直到而家都重散佈好多象鳥蛋殼碎片。科學家估計，咁可能佢哋只係季節性咁遷徙到海灘先生蛋。而喺原始人遺址，亦經常發現到有象鳥碎片留有木炭，可能係以前嘅人經常偷佢哋嘅蛋嘅證據，亦可能係構成象鳥絕種嘅原因之一。

睇埋

• 馬達加斯加動物

資料

《遭遇大怪獸：人類史前生存戰爭》ISBN 986-80922-0-5

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• Brodkorb, Pierce (1963): Catalogue of Fossil Birds Part 1 (Archaeopterygiformes through Ardeiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 7(4): 179-293. PDF fulltext
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• Goodman, S.M. and Rakotozafy, L.M.A (1997). Subfossil birds from coastal sites in western and southwestern Madagascar. Pp. 257-279 in Goodman, S.M. and Patterson, B.D. Natural Change and Human Impact in Madagascar. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London. 432 pp.
• Hawkins, A.F.A. and Goodman, S. M. (2003). P. 1019-1044 in Goodman, S.M. and Benstead, J.P. (eds). The Natural History of Madagascar. University of Chicago Press.
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• MacPhee, R.D.E. and Marx, P.A. (1997). The 40,000 year plague: humans, hyperdisease, and first-contact extinctions. Pp. 169-217 in Goodman, S.M. and Patterson, B.D. Natural Change and Human Impact in Madagascar. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London. 432 pp.
• Mlíkovsky, J. 2003: Eggs of extinct aepyornithids (Aves: Aepyornithidae) of Madagascar: size and taxonomic identity. Sylvia, 39: 133–138.
• van Tuinen, Marcel, Sibley, Charles G. and Hedges, S. Blair (1998). Phylogeny and Biogeography of Ratite Birds Inferred from DNA Sequences of the Mitochondrial Ribosomal Genes. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 15(4): 370–376. [available at http://www.stanford.edu/group/hadlylab/images/Lab%20Members/Marcel/MBE98.pdf]
• Yoder, Anne D. and Nowak, Michael D. 2006. Has Vicariance or Dispersal Been the Predominant Biogeographic Force in Madagascar? Only Time Will Tell. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 37: 405-431. (doi: 10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.37.091305.110239).
• http://digimorph.org/specimens/Aepyornis_maximus/
• http://www.geocities.com/vorompatra/index.html
• Fossil Aepyornithidae