Elephant Bird Egg Offered for Sale

This egg was offered for sale recently on ebay for the bargain price of $3,500 (the seller termed it "a real steal!"), but there were no bidders Gee, I wonder why? I was thened surprised to discover an online store, BiggestEgg, that sells nothing but Elephant Bird eggs! This site offers 5 "reconstructed" eggs, ranging in price from $1,400-$1,800. Or, you can get a replica of an Elephant Bird egg from The Evolution Store for a mere $172. This kind of thing harks back to the Victorian era, when the collection of natural history objects was in vogue. I didn't realize that there was still a market for these kinds of things.

The long-extinct Elephant Bird, a one-time flightless resident of Madasgascar, is the largest bird known to science, growing to a height of 10-11 feet and weighing in at an estimated 1,100 pounds. You can learn more about Aepyornis maximus and its eggs here, here, here, and here.