Riddle solved: The world's largest bird is Voromobe titan

New Delhi : After decade of century of conflicts, scientists have solved the riddle of the world's largest bird. A study released on September 26, 2018 reveals that a species of elephant bird was same the size of giraffe. Continue reading to know the facts about the world's biggest bird discovered.

British scientists suggests that one species of elephant bird was even larger than previously thought, with a specimen weighing an estimated 860 kg close to the size of fully grown giraffe. But, unlike most avian species, this gigantic bird could not fly. 

"They would have towered over people," James Hansford, lead author at the Zoological Society of London, said. "They definitely couldn't fly." 

For 60 million years the colossal, flightless elephant bird Aepyornis maximus lived in the savannah and rainforests of Madagascar until it was hunted to extinction around 1,000 years ago. 

In the 19th century, European zoologist who were obsessed over the creature, pillaging skeletons and fossilised eggs to prove they had discovered the biggest bird on Earth. 

Until now, the largest-ever elephant bird was described in 1894 by the British scientist C W Andrews as Aepyornis titan, a larger species of Aepyornis maximus 

But a French rival of Andrews dismissed the discovery of titan as just an outsized maximus specimen, and for decades the debate remained deadlocked. 

Expert research work proved that the titam was a different species. But, the discovery of bones was so distinct that the other elephant bird specimens that titan was in fact an entirely separate genus. 

Finally, it has been announced that Vorombe titan, measuring, at least three metres (10 feet) tall, with average weight of 650 kg is the largest bird genus in the world.