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Aepyornis Sightings; Pre-Scientific
Topic Started: Nov 10 2017, 11:00 PM (531 Views)
Rebirth
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I have become very interested in elephant birds (aepyornithids) lately. I've heard that the French governor of Madagascar (Étienne de Flacourt) described them in the 1600s, and that the Malagasy natives referred to them as "vorompatra", but if possible, I would like links to the former description as well as any good sources for the claims of European sailors collecting their eggs (pre-1800s). Thanks in advance.
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Carlos
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In regards to Étienne's report: https://books.google.pt/books?id=BvE6AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA606&lpg=PA606&dq=voroupatra&source=bl&ots=XDNzER22sV&sig=IiSkgg8iDeFKXzK_J66ykoPaBt8&hl=pt-PT&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiRjNaiv7bXAhUDnRoKHbv6CqUQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=voroupatra&f=false
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Carlos
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Also: https://medium.com/@Mullerornis/aepyornithidae-the-largest-maniraptors-of-madagascar-f5be54a26bda https://ichthyoconodon.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/aepyornithidae-the-largest-maniraptors-of-madagascar/
Lemuria:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/

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peashyjah
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Carlos
Nov 12 2017, 10:34 AM
Quite interesting and fascinating indeed.
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Not sure about elephant birds, but it's been suggested that oral traditions support the continued existence of malagasy hippopotamus beyond the extinction dates suggested by our fossil remains (it's even mentioned in the IUCN entry), with the most recent supposed encounter being from the seventies. Perhaps more surprisingly, sadly, is that the scientist who heard of this account and others from this fishing village was actually careful not to be too trusting of the accounts, making explicit note that it's possible it was misidentification; something far to uncommon in 20th century cryptozoology.
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Scrublord
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Could that have been an African hippo that somehow got swept out to sea and survived, only to find itself stranded on Madagascar?
That must have happened at some point in the distant past when the ancestors of the dwarf hippos first arrived on Madagascar, so there's no reason it couldn't happen again.
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LittleLazyLass
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Well, the currents around it mean getting to Madagascar is a lot harder than a map would have you think - there are only six known cases of non-marine or flying mammals ever colonizing it. On top of this, hippos are surprisingly bad at crossing deep bodies of water, since they're pretty awful at actually swimming at the surface as opposed to punting on the bottom. So that seems rather unlikely.
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Scrublord
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But there are no dwarf hippo remains more recent than 1000 years old, and for such a large animal to remain undiscovered by science strains belief.
Edited by Scrublord, Nov 26 2017, 11:14 PM.
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