# List of largest birds
This list sets out the largest birds ever known and the record-holders among living birds, measured by height, body mass, and wingspan. The largest bird ever was the extinct elephant bird *Vorombe titan* of [Madagascar](https://www.edgepedia.org/madagascar), which stood up to 3 m tall and weighed as much as 860 kg; the largest living bird is the ostrich (*Struthio camelus*) of sub-Saharan Africa, with males recorded at 2.74 m and 156.4 kg.[1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-bird-ever) • [2](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/70905-largest-bird-living)
| Record | Holder | Measurement |
|---|---|---|
| Largest bird ever | *Vorombe titan* (elephant bird), Madagascar, extinct about 1,000 years ago | Up to 3 m tall; maximum weight 860 kg, average 642.9 kg[1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-bird-ever) |
| Largest flying bird ever | *Pelagornis sandersi*, extinct "toothed" seabird | Wingspan about 6.4 m (21 ft); modeling used wingspans of 6.06–7.38 m[3](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/140707-bird-biggest-flight-ancient-wings-charleston-science) • [4](https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.1320297111) |
| Largest living bird | Ostrich (*Struthio camelus*) | Males up to 2.74 m tall and 156.4 kg[2](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/70905-largest-bird-living) |
| Heaviest flying bird living | Kori bustard (*Ardeotis kori*) | Up to 18.1 kg[1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-bird-ever) |
| Largest wingspan, living bird | Wandering albatross (*Diomedea exulans*) | Almost 3.5 m; record 3.63 m[5](https://australian.museum/learn/animals/birds/wandering-albatross/) |
| Largest bird of prey living | Andean condor (*Vultur gryphus*) | Up to 15 kg; wingspan over 3.1 m[6](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-the-biggest-bird-in-the-world.html) |
| Tallest flying bird living | Sarus crane (*Antigone antigone*) | Up to 1.8 m[6](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-the-biggest-bird-in-the-world.html) |
| Largest egg ever laid | Elephant bird (*Aepyornis maximus*) | Largest found 39 cm long, 32.6 cm wide[6](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-the-biggest-bird-in-the-world.html) |
## Extinct giants
**Elephant birds** of Madagascar are the largest birds known to have lived. They became extinct around 1,000 years ago, and a 2018 study of elephant bird bones published in *Royal Society Open Science* assigned the largest specimens to *Vorombe titan*, meaning "big bird" in Malagasy and Greek. The species stood as tall as 3 m (9 ft 10 in) and reached an estimated 860 kg, with an average weight of 642.9 kg.[1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-bird-ever) The identification has changed over time: in the 19th century the largest species was considered to be *Aepyornis maximus*, another elephant bird, and in more recent years *Dromornis stirtoni* of Australia was thought to hold the title, with an upper body mass recorded at 728 kg and an average of 584 kg.[1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-bird-ever) The Natural History Museum and the [Australian Museum](https://www.edgepedia.org/australian-museum) give a lower figure for *Dromornis stirtoni*, up to 500 kg and over 3 m tall, for these emu-like birds that lived in Australia 6–8 million years ago.[6](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-the-biggest-bird-in-the-world.html) • [7](https://australian.museum/learn/australia-over-time/extinct-animals/dromornis-planei-bullockornis-planei/)
[Elephant bird](https://www.edgepedia.org/elephant-bird) eggs are the largest eggs of any bird known, at 39 cm long and 32.6 cm wide for the largest found; by contrast, the ostrich lays the largest egg of any living bird, typically up to 1.8 kg.[6](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-the-biggest-bird-in-the-world.html) In New Zealand, the extinct [South Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/south-island) giant moa stood up to 12 ft (3.6 m) tall, and a de-extinction project targeting it was announced in 2025 with $15 million in funding from filmmaker [Peter Jackson](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-jackson) and Fran Walsh.[8](https://apnews.com/article/04260e26cbe04e787640c9502df94dda)
**The largest flying bird ever found** is *Pelagornis sandersi*, an extinct "toothed" seabird whose fossils were uncovered near an airport in [Charleston, South Carolina](https://www.edgepedia.org/charleston-south-carolina), in 1983 and described in *PNAS* in 2014. It had a wingspan of about 21 ft (6.4 m), more than twice that of the royal albatross, the largest living flying bird.[3](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/140707-bird-biggest-flight-ancient-wings-charleston-science) • [9](https://sciencesources.eurekalert.org/news-releases/743347) Flight modeling of the species used mass estimates of 21.9–40.1 kg and wingspan estimates of 6.06–7.38 m.[4](https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.1320297111) The largest members of its family, the Pelagornithidae, reached wingspans of up to 6 m, about as large as the biggest living albatrosses exceed the smallest birds of that extinct family.[6](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-the-biggest-bird-in-the-world.html)
## Largest living birds
**The ostrich** is the largest living bird, a flightless ratite native to sub-Saharan Africa. Males have been recorded standing up to 2.74 m (9 ft) tall and weighing 156.4 kg (345 lb).[2](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/70905-largest-bird-living) Two species exist, the common ostrich and the Somali ostrich, and among common ostrich subspecies the North African ostrich (*Struthio camelus camelus*) is the tallest, with one individual measured at 2.75 m including head and neck, while the southern African subspecies (*S. c. australis*) is the heaviest, reportedly up to 156 kg.[6](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-the-biggest-bird-in-the-world.html) Ostriches also hold the records for the longest neck on a bird, 0.9 m, and the largest eyes of any land animal, with eyeballs up to 5 cm across, and they are the fastest birds on land, reaching 72 km/h at full sprint; a male was recorded running at that speed over 732 m in 1964.[2](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/70905-largest-bird-living) • [6](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-the-biggest-bird-in-the-world.html) The North African ostrich has been the subject of reintroduction work: in September 2026, eight birds were released into Niger's Gadabedji Biosphere Reserve, where the subspecies had not been seen in the wild since 1955.[10](https://saharaconservation.org/news/after-more-than-20-years-absent-from-the-wild-in-niger-the-north-african-ostrich-is-reintroduced-into-its-natural-habitat/?categorieactu%5B%5D=new)
**The emu** is the second largest living bird and the largest in Australia, with an average height of 5.7 ft (1.75 m) and a maximum of about 1.9 m.[11](https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/emu) • [12](https://www.livescience.com/biggest-birds-on-earth) **The southern cassowary** is the third largest bird in the world, weighing up to 175 pounds (about 79 kg), with talons up to five inches long and a kick powerful enough to break bones.[13](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/cassowary-conservation-most-dangerous-bird) It is the heaviest flightless bird in Australia and the second-heaviest in the world after the common ostrich, growing up to 1.7 m tall.[14](https://www.livescience.com/animals/birds/southern-cassowary-the-giant-prehistoric-bird-with-dinosaur-feet) The species is endangered in Australia, with fewer than 5,000 left in the wild, threatened by habitat loss, car strikes, and dog attacks.[13](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/cassowary-conservation-most-dangerous-bird)
## Largest flying birds
**By weight**, the heaviest flying bird is the kori bustard of southern and eastern Africa, at up to 18.1 kg, about the weight of two adult dachshunds.[1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-bird-ever) The Natural History Museum gives up to 19 kg and a wingspan of up to 2.75 m for the species, and notes that the great bustard (*[Otis tarda](https://www.edgepedia.org/great-bustard)*) is also a very large flier, with adult males peaking at about 18 kg.[6](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-the-biggest-bird-in-the-world.html) The largest directly measured wild individuals of volant birds reach wingspans of about 3.5 m (royal albatross) and masses of about 19 kg (great and kori bustards).[4](https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.1320297111)
**By wingspan**, the wandering albatross is the living record-holder, measuring on average 2.5–3.5 m from wingtip to wingtip, with the largest recorded span 3.63 m on a male documented in 1965; unconfirmed reports exceed four meters.[5](https://australian.museum/learn/animals/birds/wandering-albatross/) • [1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-bird-ever) Among land birds, the marabou stork has a verified wingspan record of 3.2 m, and the [Andean condor](https://www.edgepedia.org/andean-condor)'s wingspan can exceed 3.1 m.[6](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-the-biggest-bird-in-the-world.html) The Andean condor is also the world's largest living bird of prey, weighing up to 15 kg.[6](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-the-biggest-bird-in-the-world.html) • [15](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/106616-largest-living-bird-of-prey) The tallest flying bird is the sarus crane, which reaches 1.8 m and breeds in reed nests piled up in shallow water.[6](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-the-biggest-bird-in-the-world.html)
## How the records compare
Size in birds splits along flight ability. The heaviest birds ever, the elephant birds and *Dromornis stirtoni*, were all flightless, and the heaviest living birds, the ostrich and cassowary, are flightless too; flight constrains mass to roughly 19 kg in the bustards.[1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-bird-ever) • [4](https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.1320297111) Wingspan follows a different pattern: the largest wingspan ever belongs to a flying bird, *Pelagornis sandersi* at about 6.4 m, which glided over the ocean like an oversized albatross rather than flapping continuously.[3](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/140707-bird-biggest-flight-ancient-wings-charleston-science) The title of largest bird ever has also shifted with taxonomy rather than discovery alone: the 2018 reassignment of the largest elephant bird bones from *Aepyornis* to *Vorombe titan* changed the record holder without any new skeleton being found.[1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-bird-ever) • [16](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6170582/)
## References
1. [Largest bird ever, Guinness World Records](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-bird-ever)
2. [Largest bird (living), Guinness World Records](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/70905-largest-bird-living)
3. [Biggest Flying Seabird Had 21-Foot Wingspan, Scientists Say, National Geographic](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/140707-bird-biggest-flight-ancient-wings-charleston-science)
4. [Flight performance of the largest volant bird, PNAS](https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.1320297111)
5. [Wandering Albatross, Australian Museum](https://australian.museum/learn/animals/birds/wandering-albatross/)
6. [What is the biggest bird in the world?, Natural History Museum, London](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-the-biggest-bird-in-the-world.html)
7. [Dromornis planei (Bullockornis planei), Australian Museum](https://australian.museum/learn/australia-over-time/extinct-animals/dromornis-planei-bullockornis-planei/)
8. [Colossal Biosciences moa de-extinction project, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/04260e26cbe04e787640c9502df94dda)
9. [Bruce Museum scientist identifies world's largest-ever flying bird, EurekAlert!](https://sciencesources.eurekalert.org/news-releases/743347)
10. [North African ostrich reintroduced in Niger, Sahara Conservation](https://saharaconservation.org/news/after-more-than-20-years-absent-from-the-wild-in-niger-the-north-african-ostrich-is-reintroduced-into-its-natural-habitat/?categorieactu%5B%5D=new)
11. [Emu, Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute](https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/emu)
12. [14 of the biggest birds on Earth, Live Science](https://www.livescience.com/biggest-birds-on-earth)
13. [Is this really the world's most dangerous bird?, National Geographic](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/cassowary-conservation-most-dangerous-bird)
14. [Southern cassowary: The giant prehistoric bird with dinosaur feet, Live Science](https://www.livescience.com/animals/birds/southern-cassowary-the-giant-prehistoric-bird-with-dinosaur-feet)
15. [Largest living bird of prey, Guinness World Records](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/106616-largest-living-bird-of-prey)
16. [pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6170582/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Animals › Vertebrates › Birds › Bird taxonomy and systematics*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
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