Megan Gannon, News Editor
Date: 28 March 2013 Time: 05:57 PM ET
Traces of two awkward birds that have become emblems of
extinction are headed for the auction block next month.
Christie's announced this week that it's selling a femur
bone fragment of a dodo and a massive sub-fossilized elephant bird egg that's
100 times the size of a chicken egg.
Elephant birds were flightless
creatures that stood 10 feet (3 m) tall and lived on the island of
Madagascar until they were driven to extinction by the 18th century, possibly
due to factors like disease introduced by settlers or humans' unsustainable
appetite for their eggs.
Their eggs indeed would have been big enough to feed a
family, or several; the complete one up for auction measures 9 inches (21 cm)
in diameter and 12 inches (30 cm) in height. It's expected to sell for up to
$45,000.
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