The largest and heaviest birds ever existed

DinoAnimals.com

The biggest and heaviest birds that have ever existed

Today, probably every child will say without hesitation that the heaviest bird in the world is the African ostrich, and… he/she will be right. The ostrich is currently the heaviest and largest bird, although unfortunately it cannot fly. It belongs to the flightless species. In the history of the Earth, however, the ostrich was neither the tallest nor the heaviest bird, although in terms of height it was close to its tallest ancestors. A lot of questions from our readers contributed to the creation of this list, because although we already have the largest birds in the world, today we will go back to history and compare it with modern species.

The maximum weight of a bird is 500 kg (1,100 lb)?

Looking at the list below, it is clear that nature has limited the maximum weight of flightless birds to 500 kg. None of the so far discovered species has exceeded this weight, although its relatives (dinosaurs moving on two legs) easily reached the weight exceeding even 10 tons…

An update

2018 brought the verification of this thesis. Paleontologists have determined that the Vorombe titan belonging to the elephant birds could weigh up to 730 kg (1,168 lb)!

The largest and heaviest birds that have ever existed TOP 10

No	Bird	AVERAGE WEIGHT	MAXIMUM WEIGHT	AVERAGE – MAX. HEIGHT
1	†Vorombe titan	530 kg	730 kg	300 cm
		1168 lb	1609 lb	9.8 ft
2	Stirton’s thunderbird (†Dromornis stirtoni)	450 kg	500 kg	300 cm
		992 lb	1102 lb	9.8 ft
3	†Aepyornis maximus	380-400 kg	400-455 kg	300 cm
		832-882 lb	882-1003 lb	9.8 ft
4	Giant ostrich (†Pachystruthio dmanisensis)	400 kg	450 kg	350 cm
		882 lb	992 lb	11.5 ft
5	†Brontornis	350 kg	400 kg	280-300 cm
		772 lb	882 lb	9.2-9.8 ft
6	Giant moa (Dinornis)		236 kg	up to 360 cm
			520 lb	up to 11.8 ft
7	†Kelenken (†Kelenken guillermoi)	136 kg	182 kg	210-300 cm
		300 lb		6.9-9.8 ft
8	Gastornis (†Diatryma)		170 kg	175-214 cm
			375 lb	5.7-7 ft
9	Terror bird (†Phorusrhacos)	130 kg		up to 250 cm
		287 lb		up to 8.2 ft
10	Common ostrich (Struthio camelus)	104 kg	157 kg	210 cm
			346 lb	6.9 ft
11	†Titanis walleri		150 kg	up to 250 cm
			331 lb	up to 8.2
12	Giant Teratorn (†Argentavis magnificens)	60-80 kg	110 kg	180-280 cm
		132-176 lb	243 lb	5.9-9.2 ft
13	New Zealand giant penguin (†Pachydyptes)		100 kg	140-160 cm
			220 lb	4.6-5.2 ft
14	Penguin (†Anthropornis nordenskjoeldi)		90 kg	180 cm
			198 lb	5.9 ft
15	Southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius)	45 kg	85 kg	155 cm
		99 lb	187 lb	5.1 ft
16	Northern cassowary (Casuarius unappendiculatus)	44 kg	75 kg	149 cm
		97 lb	165 lb	4.9 ft
17	Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae)	33 kg	70 kg	153 cm
		73 lb	154 lb	5.0 ft
18	Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri)	32 kg	46 kg	114 cm
		69 lb	101 lb	3.7 ft
19	Greater rhea (Rhea americana)	23 kg	40 kg	134 cm
		51 lb	88 lb	4.4 ft
20	†Pelagornis sandersi (flying – wingspan 6,1 – 7,4 m)	22 kg	40 kg	180 cm
		49 lb	88 lb	5.9 ft
21	Dwarf cassowary (Casuarius bennetti)	20 kg	34 kg	105 cm
		43 lb	75 lb	3.4 ft
22	†Sylviornis		30 kg	170 cm
			66 lb	5.6 ft
23	Lesser rhea (Rhea pennata)	20 kg	29 kg	96 cm
		43 lb	64 lb	3.1 ft
24	Dodo (†Raphus cucullatus)	10-23 kg	28 kg	100 cm
		22 – 51 lb	62 lb	3.3 ft
25	King penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus)	14 kg	20 kg	92 cm
		30 lb	44 lb	3.0 ft
26	Dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus crispus)	12 kg	15 kg	170 cm
		25 lb	33 lb	5.6 ft