Australian ostrich: photo, description and habitat

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

The ostrich is the largest bird on the planet, it is well known to a huge number of people. The scientific name is Struthio camelus, from Latin the second part of the name is translated as "camel". These animals are similar to each other with bulging eyes and long eyelashes, as well as impressive body sizes. This beautiful giant bird called the Australian ostrich (its photo can be found in the article) is divided into several subspecies:

• Asian ostriches.
• Regular or North African.
• Somali.
• Syrian.
• African.

What is the Australian ostrich called?

Emu is the largest fast flightless bird that looks like an ostrich. Due to the fact that Australia is located far from other continents, this fact has had a positive effect on the conservation of certain species of animals, which include the Australian emu, whose photo we present in this article. In the past, this bird was related to the ostrich species, but in 1980 the classification was revised and included in the cassowary series. It is to them that the emu belongs. There are three types of emus that live in Australia:

• woodwardi;
• novaehollandiae;
• rothschildi.

Emu appearance

Despite their large size, Australian ostriches are still much smaller than African ones. In height, they can reach 150-180 cm, weighing from 35 to 55 kg. They have a dense body and a small head on an oblong neck. They have large, rounded eyes with fluffy eyelashes. Their pink beak ends with a bent tip. Since they do not have teeth for grinding food, it is quite normal for them to swallow small pebbles, sand. In addition, life-threatening materials - pieces of metal, glass - often come across in their stomachs. The wings are not fully developed (that's why they do not fly) and reach up to 25 cm in length. These birds have incredibly strong legs that can break a human bone. Velvet brown feathers camouflage emus and are able to regulate their body temperature.

Individuals of both sexes have the same color. Like ostriches, emus may not drink water for a long time, but if they find a source, they will drink a lot and with great pleasure. In addition, they swim well and are happy to spend time in a pond, but since they rarely see water, they bathe in sand and dust, risking ruining their feathers with mud. The dust bath is a fun activity for everyone, initiated by dominant individuals and performed regularly. Such procedures help to get rid of various parasites, thereby disinfecting the bare areas of the body. Dust to some extent protects feathers from water, replacing the subcutaneous fat that ostriches produce in smallquantities.

Is the Australian emu dangerous?

Adults are dangerous even for large predators, one kick with a hard claw is enough to seriously injure or even take the life of a lion, for example. When attacked directly, an emu can also cripple a dog or break a person's arm with a single blow. There were cases when males, protecting their immediate territory, attacked people and seriously maimed them. In peaceful life, they are almost always silent and quiet, and males during the mating season make a sound that is a bit like a quiet whistle.

Habitat

Emus live in Australia and off the coast of Tasmania. As a rule, they inhabit dry biotopes - shrubs and savannahs; they can also live on the outskirts of deserts, but they never go deeper. Emu is characterized by a sedentary lifestyle, seasonal migrations are common in the western parts: in summer they go north, in winter - south. Adult birds have practically no enemies, they roam calmly in open areas and only occasionally, in case of a threat to life, rush into a run at a speed of 50 km / h. They have excellent vision, which is why a moving object can be seen from afar, a couple of hundred meters away. They do not like close proximity to large animals and people, so on excursion farms they try to keep visitors away from this bird. Emus usually keep alone, but sometimes in pairs of 3-5 individuals.

What do ostriches eat and how do they breed?

They usually eat rhizomes, seeds and fruits of plants,fruits and small animals and insects (grasshoppers, ants, lizards). Even in times of famine, they do not feed on grass and dry branches, preferring grain crops. For this, they were regularly exterminated by the first settlers in the old days. The mating season falls from December to January. At this time, males are especially dangerous and disperse all opponents from their lands. Emus are monogamous, so any male will only mate with one female. As for the female, after mating she is released from parental obligations, she can already converge with new partners. The role of the male in procreation is great, he himself builds nests from branches and grass, and the female only lays 7-8 eggs weighing 800-900 grams.

In appearance, the eggs differ in color: there are dark blue, and even almost black, as well as greenish-blue shades. The male directly takes care of the offspring. He incubates the clutch for up to two months and does not leave the nest even for a second. He does not feed, does not defecate, drinks only dew from the grass and is always on guard. During the two months of incubation, the male loses a lot of weight and survives only thanks to the fat that he was able to accumulate in advance. When the chicks have hatched, the male carefully protects them. Despite the large size of the emu, his life is extremely restless. The main danger threatens the chicks, 50% do not live up to the young. They are hunted by dingoes, foxes, wild boars.

How to properly care for an emu?

In Russia, ostriches have long ceased to be exotic, it is not difficult to breed them. In general it is the sameprocess, as with other farm animals. The Australian emu is quite unpretentious, and it is very easy to keep it if everything is done correctly. With the stall content of an adult, 10-15 square meters are needed. m for walking. Since emus are not able to fly, the fence should be 150-180 cm, if you decide to resort to a grid, then its cells should not be small so that the bird does not stick its head in there. And do not leave the sharp tops of the hedge, as the pet will quickly injure itself. The basis of the diet of ostriches, which are kept in the courtyard, is compound feed with the addition of grain mash, a large amount of grass, hay, vegetables, waste meat, root crops.

If you want to start breeding the Australian emu, care and maintenance should be the most acceptable for the bird's life. This is the purchase or lease of land, the construction of premises, walking, buying feed, depending on the scale of the intended farm.

Interesting Emu Facts

To summarize everything we have learned about this amazing bird:

• reach a human height of 170 cm and a weight of 55 kg;
• can't fly because they don't have a keel;
• run fast, speed reaches 50 km/h;
• steps up to three meters;
• eyes are the same size as the brain;
• emu does not bury its head in the sand, but runs when threatened;
• get used to t from -5 degrees to +45;
• the general appearance of males and females is no different;
• bird eggs are dark blue orgreen;
• only the male incubates the chicks, the female only lays the eggs.

Emu in everyday life

In Australia, emus are quite common, so they are not in danger. It is not common for them to bury their heads in the sand, and these individuals are completely intelligent. They represent the last species of large-sized flightless birds that exist today, except for the African ostrich. They live in the wild, they are kept in captivity to get meat, eggs, skin. They are kept in zoos and ostrich farms. In their meaning and appearance, these are amazing and unusual creatures.