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」。

## 比例
 
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
* 
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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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* 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