{"id":24217,"date":"2023-01-24T17:14:34","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T16:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=73267"},"modified":"2023-01-24T18:37:11","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T17:37:11","slug":"the-10-biggest-birds-in-the-world-by-maximum-weight","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/the-10-biggest-birds-in-the-world-by-maximum-weight\/","title":{"rendered":"The 10 biggest birds in the world (by maximum weight)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Leoma Williams\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 24 January 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Birds have evolved<\/a> to fill a great diversity of niches, living in vastly different habitats<\/a> and having varied lifestyles. Thus, they come in many different shapes and sizes, from the tiny to the towering. This list gives you the lowdown on the very biggest living birds that currently grace the planet.<\/p>\n

What is the world\u2019s heaviest flying bird?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
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The great majority of these big birds belong to just one group \u2013 ratites. Ratites are all flightless and, with the exception of kiwis, are all long-legged, long-necked and large. The group contains the ostriches, rheas, cassowaries and emus that all feature on this list, but also the now extinct elephant birds and moa.<\/p>\n
What was the largest bird ever?<\/h3>\n
Elephant birds are thought to have been the largest birds to ever exist, weighing over an estimated 500kg. The very tallest bird, however, was the South Island giant moa, a ratite from New Zealand that stood a whopping 3.6m tall.<\/p>\n
Although enjoying a stable population for at least 40,000 years, these colossal birds were quickly wiped out when humans began to settle in Polynesia and realised they were a ready food source. Moa are thought to have gone extinct due to overhunting by around 1500CE.<\/p>\n
Read on to learn about the living relatives of these extraordinary ratites, as well as a couple more beefy birds from other taxonomic groups. You can also learn all about the smallest birds in the world here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The 10 biggest birds in the world (by maximum weight)<\/h2>\n
Common ostrich (Struthio camelus<\/em>) 156.8 kg<\/h3>\n $\"""\"$ <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>