Bird eggs are so diverse, so which are the largest and smallest, and how do they get their colors?
Every spring, colorful eggs show up in Easter egg hunts, and hard-boiled eggs grace Seder plates at Passover. But besides serving as an oval canvas for egg decorators and a symbol of rebirth and fertility, avian eggs are known for their diversity in shape and size.
The common murre has a pyriform, or pear-shaped, egg. Common murres nest on narrow cliff edges, but the egg's unusual shape usually keeps it safe. Other eggshells, such as the brilliant blue of the wren-like rushbird , are different hues. Two pigments are responsible for a multitude of eggshell colors: biliverdins, which make blue-green hues, and protoporphyrins — the pigments behind the rusty colors of yellow, red and brown, according to"The Book of Eggs."
The bird itself, a flightless behemoth, stood about 10 feet tall and lived in Madagascar until disease and hungry sailors likely drove the birds to extinction by the 18th century.
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