A giant chicken from the age of the hobbit? Scientists unveil strange prehistoric discovery from Indonesia

Scientists have identified a previously unknown species of prehistoric bird, several times heavier than its modern relatives, the chicken, from a single fragment of leg bone found in a cave on the Indonesian island of Flores, the same cave that produced the ancient human relative nicknamed the "hobbit."

The extinct bird, named Megapodius rokusi, was identified from a fossilised right leg bone recovered inside Liang Bua cave. The findings, published in October 2026 in the journal Alcheringa, describe a bird that weighed an estimated 8.6 pounds (3.9 kilograms), making it significantly larger than the related species still found on the island today.

What kind of bird was it?

The species belongs to the megapodes, also known as incubator birds or mound-builders, a group of medium-sized to large ground-dwelling relatives of the chicken with powerful legs, large feet and sharp claws. Unlike most birds, which keep their eggs warm by sitting on them, megapodes bury their eggs and rely on heat from the surrounding environment to incubate them.

Scientists named the species in honour of Indonesian zooarchaeologist Rokus Due Awe, who played an important role in studying animal remains from Liang Bua and helped identify early fossils belonging to Homo floresiensis.

How big was it?

The fossil was discovered in 2009 but has only now been identified as belonging to a new species. It consists of the lower portion of a right leg bone, recovered from cave sediments dating back roughly 190,000 to 120,000 years.

Despite having only one fragment, scientists determined the bone was larger than the equivalent bone in any other known living or extinct species of the genus Megapodius. They estimated the bird's weight at approximately 3.9 kilograms, or 8.6 pounds. By comparison, the orange-footed megapode, the only living member of the group on Flores today, weighs between about 1.1 and 2.6 pounds.

The fossil also marks the first described megapode fossil from Wallacea, the island region between mainland Asia and Australia, giving researchers new information about the birds that once lived there.

Could the large bird fly?

Because no wing or shoulder bones were recovered, researchers cannot determine whether Megapodius rokusi was capable of flying. They also do not know exactly when the species disappeared, or whether it ever shared the island with the smaller megapodes that live there today. One possibility is that the modern species arrived on Flores only after its larger relative had already gone extinct.