As '''aves elefante''' ('''Aepyornithidae''') son un [[clado]] de [[aves]] [[paleognatas]] [[Extinción|extintas]] non voadoras [[Endemismo|endémicas]] de [[Madagascar]].<ref name="cle">[http://web.archive.org/web/http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%20Checklist%206.3.2%20December%202008.xls/view Clements, J. F. 2007. ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition''. Cornell University Press. Downloadable from Cornell Lab of Ornithology ]</ref><ref>[//es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sibley[Charles Sibley|Sibley, Charles Gald]] & [//es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Edward_Ahlquist[Jon Edward Ahlquist|Ahlquist, Jon Edward]] (1990): ''Phylogeny and classification of birds''. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn.</ref> A posición filoxenética destas aves segundo os últimos estudos moleculares é a do grupo irmán dos [[kiwis]].<ref>Mitchell, K.J. ''et al''. (2014) [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/344/6186/898 Ancient DNA reveals elephant birds and kiwi are sister taxa and clarifies ratite bird evolution]. ''Science'', 344(6186):898-900.</ref>
