The mystery of the giant egg in a Gorleston school playground continues to intrigue experts, pupils and teachers – and it still hasn’t hatched.

Great Yarmouth Mercury: The news team from Wroughton infant school investigate the arrival of a giant egg in the school playground.The news team from Wroughton infant school investigate the arrival of a giant egg in the school playground. (Image: ©Archant2015)

Last Friday, Wroughton Infant School was visited by an inspector from the National Museum of Strange Objects. After examining the surrounding area and nest, watched by intrigued children, he concentrated on the egg and found it was 140cm end to end.

Using a special stethoscope he gingerly listened for signs of life – and reported hearing a faint heartbeat. In his expert opinion he believed two factors should be considered: the cold weather conditions and the absence of the mother, which meant the egg was decidedly chilly inside.

A decision was made to move the egg to a place of safety, not something he would normally have recommended.

A spokeswoman for the school said: “We carefully moved it from the playground into our library where it is being closely monitored for changes. We have already noticed the surface has altered – something we were warned to expect due to the more ambient temperature.”

She said the museum inspector was inclined to think it could be a dinosaur egg but he was reminded by the children this was impossible as dinosaurs were extinct, and he needed to think again.

He left the children with information to support further research into larger eggs.

Many of the young pupils now think it may be the egg of a kiwi, an ostrich or elephant bird (Aepyornis titan, although they know these died out over 700 years ago).

The spokeswoman added: “We are unsure how any of these birds could have come to Gorleston. We would be happy to hear from anyone who has any further information to support our research.”

In order to understand more about animals that hatch, the reception children have had a bumper batch of chickens; all 12 eggs hatched in quick succession due to the care they received.

The children will continue to look after the chicks until the end of term when they will go to live on a nearby farm, which has promised to keep them updated on their progress.

Meantime, they await the hatching of the huge egg with bated breath...