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Science Quickly

This Gargantuan Bird Weighed as Much as a Sports Car

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.2639 Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The elephant bird was the heaviest bird to ever walk the earth. Also, its eggs were 150 times the size of a chicken egg and thick as a dinner plate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

0:05.8

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.

0:11.0

Yachtold also partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for gut health, an investigator-led research program.

0:20.1

To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.j.p.

0:23.9

That's y-A-K-U-L-T dot-C-O-J-P.

0:28.4

When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on YacL.

0:31.9

For people who've never heard of an elephant bird, what do they need to know?

0:36.2

I think, first off, the size. They are colossal.

0:43.1

I'm Flora Lickman, with Scientific Americans Science Quickly. This is episode two of my homage to Earth's

0:52.5

real big birds. Last episode, we talked about the biggest bird to fly.

0:58.2

Today, we're homing in on the heaviest bird to set its scaly foot down on planet Earth.

1:05.4

The elephant bird.

1:07.3

They are outstanding.

1:09.0

This is elephant bird expert and paleontologist James Hansford.

1:12.7

Just absolute titans of the bird world.

1:15.5

Elephant birds lived in Madagascar.

1:17.7

They seemed to be mostly herbivorous.

1:20.0

None of them flew.

1:21.1

And there were a number of different species that ranged from the size of an ostrich

1:25.0

to the size of a smart car.

1:27.0

The biggest I've measured was just somewhere around £1,900.

1:32.5

Oh, my God.

...

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