#elephant bird

[scottpartridge]

Elephant Bird (Aepyornis maximus) for day 27 of #drawtober #extinctbirds2025 hosted by @smallerdelusions / @lesserdreams

[herpsandbirds]

May I request some paleognaths?

DAWN OF THE PALEOGNATHS!!!

IT HAS BEGUN!!!

YOU'RE IN FOR IT NOW MOTHER FUCKERS!!!

So, let's explain to the kids in the peanut gallery, that aren't obsessed with bird taxonomy and evolution, what a Paleognath is...

This is an infraclass of birds that are considered to be "primitive" in their anatomy. They have primitive more reptilian palates, and they have penises (which is something most other birds have lost through evolution), as well as some other anatomical traits. Primitive, meaning they have some traits of earlier birds.

We don't use the term living fossil here at the blog, as every living thing today is the result of 4 billion years of evolution, and has changed and adapted and continues to do so.

Paleognaths probably diverged from other groups of birds in the Early Cretaceous.

Some people confuse this grouping with the ratites (ostriches, rheas, cassowaries, emus), but the ratites are a group of paleognaths. (What I'm trying to get across here is that the other paleognath birds I'm going to name are not ratites, they're just closely related).

There has been some dispute over the years as to whether the Paleognathae are polyphyletic (not actually evolutionary closely related but different groups that we have grouped for the sake of ease and similar traits). Recent anatomical and genetic analysis strongly favors them being monophyletic (an actual single closely related evolutionary lineage).

Most members of this group are flightless.

Here are the groups of Paleognaths:

Ostriches

Rheas

Cassowaries and Emus

Kiwis

Tinamous

Elephant Birds (extinct)

Moas (extinct)

Lithornids (extinct, may be polyphyletic)

Masai or East African Ostrich (Struthio camelus massaicus), male, family Struthionidae, order Struthioniformes, Masai Mara, Kenya

A subspecies of the Common Ostrich.

The largest species of bird in the world, standing up to 8.86 ft (2.7 m) tall.

Flightless.

photograph byKmb Prasad

Greater Rhea (Rhea americana), family Rheidae, order Rheiformes, found in central and eastern South America

Flightless

Standing up to 5 ft 7 in tall

photograph by Rufus46

Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae), family Casuariidae, order Casuariiformes, Flinders Ranges, SA, Australia

Flightless

Standing up to 6.25 ft (1.91 m) tall.

photograph by Greg Wisnia

Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), father with eggs, family Casuariidae, northern Australia

Flightless

Standing up to 1.9 m (6 ft 3 in) tall.

Photograph by VestorStudio

Puna Tinamou (Tinamotis pentlandii), family Tinamidae, order Tinamiformes, found in Puna (high altitude grassland) in the Southern Andes Mountains of South America.

The tinamous are an ancient group of birds, related to ratites (ostriches, rheas, emus, and cassowaries).

Though they are not strong flyers, they are capable of flight.

photograph by Luke Seitz

North Island Brown Kiwi (Apteryx mantelli), Apterygidae, order Apterygiformes, widespread in the northern 2/3 of the North Island of New Zealand

VULNERABLE.

photograph by Tui de Roi

Elephant Bird (Aepyornis maximus), family Aepyornis, order Aepyornithiformes, Found in Madagascar

EXTINCT (Sometime around 1000 AD)

These huge birds reached a height of up to 3 (9.8 ft), and a weight of up to 1,000 kg (2,200 lb).

illustration by George de Lodge

South Island Giant Moa (Dinornis robustus), family Dinornithidae, order Dinornithiformes, was found on the South Island of New Zealand

EXTINCT.

Flightless

Possible the tallest bird species to have existed, standing up to 3.6 metres (11 ft 10 in) tall.

images: Joseph Smit & Paleoneolitic

Lithornis, family Lithornidae, order Lithorniformes, known from Upper Paleocene through the Middle Eocene

Capable of flight

6 species

illustration by Sheatherius

[puddleorganism]

Birds! Birds! Birds!

Update: added image IDs in the alt text!

[darknymfa-art]

Aviapril day 26, Aepyornis maximus. Big beefy boy. I actually saved the sketch for this one so if anyone is interested in the process for these sprites, I'll add it under a readmore!

Above, the full-size sketch. Below, the sketch shrunk down in Aseprite (and then sized back up to 3x size to match the sprite up above).

[xanananas]

Type shit

[thatonegaycactus]

Day 116 of DDD! The Elephant Bird! Just like the moas, these birds were flightless massive birds compassing multiple genuses, Aepyornis and Mullerornis. They lived in madagascar and lacked wings! While one might assume their closest relatives would be ostriches due to being in africa, their closest relatives were Kiwis!

[saucylobster]

Moamon Level: Ultimate/Perfect Type: Ancient Bird Attribute: Data Field: Jungle Troopers/Wind Guardians An ancient digimon that towers over other bird types. Although physically very strong, it prefers to avoid violence if at all possible. The cloth and jewellery that adorns its body stands out in the cramped jungle; bells jingling and garish colours cutting through the foliage. It draws companions near, allowing them to dance around it or ride along as it travels between isolated jungle ruins. With Parade Stomp it crushes foes under its immense weight, the exaggerated movements and music from its bells make it almost like a ritual dance. By imbuing its tusks with a holy power, it pierces foes with its Harmonious Tusk, an attack that is particularly devestating against evil digimon. Champion: Kiwimon, Diatrymon, Baluchimon, Parasaurmon Mega: Ceresmon, Phoenixmon, Mitamamon, El Doradimon

[justice-for-general-schmitz]

Happy Dr. Seuss Day, everyone!

I decided to draw the majority of my Seussical-verse cast in my best attempt at Seuss's own art style, using the original illustrations as references. The majority of them are based on their original designs, but Mrs. Mayor and Hannah are based on background Whos, and Schmitz is a combination of his original design and the Grandfather Yook from The Butter Battle Book.

As for why the Cat's not in the picture?

Reality reason: I wanted to make sure I could get all my favorite characters in the image and forgot to find a spot for him.

In-universe reason: He's the one who took it!

@fun-twisted-tales @knizuu @nucimylio @sxftlii-lizziee @moroniblah @thecrowinthehat @seussedge @cityoftheangelllls

(Again, anyone who doesn't want to be tagged can just tell me)