What is the largest bird?

What is the largest bird? The ostrich is the largest living bird by height and body mass.

The common ostrich (Struthio camelus) is a flightless ratite native to Africa. Adults can stand roughly 2.7 meters tall and weigh more than 100 kilograms, making them substantially heavier than emus, cassowaries, and other living birds.

Ostriches are built for running rather than flying. Their long, powerful legs can propel them at speeds of about 70 kilometers per hour, while each foot has only two toes—an unusual design that helps with efficient movement. They also lay the largest eggs of any living bird.

The answer applies to living birds. Extinct species complicate the broader question: Madagascar’s elephant birds may have outweighed ostriches, and giant moas may have stood taller. The ostrich remains the largest bird alive today, and the largest bird most people can encounter in modern wildlife parks or the wild.