Published on September 1, 2014 at 11:09
Sussex (United Kingdom): The completely fossilized elephant bird egg, discovered by archaeologists in the late 1800s or early 1900s, is being put up for auction on April 24 by Christie’s Auction House. It has been appraised at $45,000, but according to experts it could be sold for even more than that.
It is said to be the largest egg ever recorded and engineers have calculated that structurally and functionally it is impossible for any egg to be larger than this.
The extinct elephant bird egg is over a foot long and is large enough to accommodate the contents of seven ostrich eggs, 100 chicken eggs or 12,000 hummingbird eggs.
Elephant birds are said to have once inhabited at the island of Madagascar located away from the east coast of Africa.
They were grown to almost 10 ft in height and weighed around half a ton.
It is believed that the species have become extinct in the 17th or 18th centuries, probably due to human activity.
The egg of one of these birds is believed to be a miracle. It’s over a foot in length and larger than any known dinosaur egg.
Video on the largest egg in the world