These earlier accounts are today believed to describe elephant birds.
These islands are not thought to have been connected to mainland Africa when elephant birds were alive.
Madagascar was once home to the now extinct elephant birds.
In the finale of the musical, Horton's egg hatches into an elephant bird.
In the end, the two become a couple and decide to team together in order to give the elephant bird a proper upbringing.
The extinction of the elephant bird is attributed to human activity.
The last of the elephant birds became extinct about 300 years ago.
One of the world's most unbelievable yet quite real creatures, the elephant bird, may well have been done in by its sheer obviousness.
Horton eventually falls for her and she becomes the mother of the elephant bird in the end.
The elephant bird, among the largest birds ever, formerly living on Madagascar (extinct).