Bird Eggs & The Egg Game
Bird eggs come in unlimited colors,
shapes, and sizes. From birds living today the
smallest egg is from the Vervain Humming bird, about the
size of a pea, and the largest egg is from the
ostrich. The largest known egg, about 15 times the
size of an ostrich egg, was from the extinct Elephant Bird Aepyornis maximus.
Bird eggs have been admired for their beauty through out
history. In the 18th century the wealthy would
display valuable egg collections. Early naturalist
collected eggs for scientific study. This study
allow us to learn about the relationships and evolution
of birds. From these studies we also learn about
things like the affects of pesticides on bird
populations. Below the egg game is an illustration of eggs by Adolphe Millot
from Nouveau Larousse [1897-1904], which shows the wide
diversity of eggs..
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