The Egg Special

Ostriches are the largest birds in the world today and found exclusively in Africa. They are the living members of a large radiation of ostriches whose range extended from Africa to China and included India and southern Europe. Some of these species of ostriches are thought to have been true giants, with individuals that could reach masses of 300 kg—twice the size of the largest African ostrich that we are familiar with today. While the ostriches in China and India disappeared before recorded history, archaeological evidence suggests that humans overlapped with them and made use of their eggs. Most of what we know about these birds comes from preserved egg-shell fragments. Over the last couple of centuries in China, complete or near complete eggs have been recovered—washed out of riverbanks or dug up by farmers. Colloquially, these eggs were called “dragon’s eggs” or “stone eggs” because no one knew of any local animal large enough to have laid them. 

This egg was one of two purchased from a curio dealer in China and later donated to ROM in 1919. The egg is at least 9,000 years old and came from a species of ostrich (Struthio anderssoni) that would have likely been about 50 percent larger than the African ostrich.

Oliver Haddrath is an Ornithology Collections Specialist in the Natural History Department at ROM.