The Elephant bird
The Elephant bird, as the name suggests, was an enormous flightless bird, that was endemic to the island of Madagascar, off the eastern coast of Africa. They lived there during the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs and only disappeared around 1,000 years ago. The name elephant bird, apparently originates from Marco Polo's account, in the year 1298 referring to a bird that was strong enough to "seize an elephant with its talons." They were Once a common sight on Madagascar and they were the largest megafauna species in their habitat. Elephant birds are considered to be members of the group of birds known as ratites. That today includes birds such as ostriches emus cassowaries and the kiwi bird of New Zealand.