🐾 Ostrich

Ostrich

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Who it is

• Scientific name: Struthio camelus
• Family & relatives: The largest living bird, a flightless ratite related to emus, rheas, cassowaries, and kiwis.
• How to spot it: A huge long-necked bird with long bare legs, fluffy feathers, and big bright eyes; males are black and white, females brown.

Its body & abilities

• Size: About 2.1 to 2.8 m tall, the tallest of all birds.
• Weight: Roughly 90 to 130 kg (200 to 290 lb).
• Body & adaptations: It cannot fly, but its long strong legs each end in two toes built for fast running and powerful kicks.
• Top speed: The fastest bird on land, sprinting up to about 70 km/h (43 mph).
• Strength: A single kick from its powerful leg is strong enough to defend it from lions.
• Senses: Superb eyesight with the largest eyes of any land animal, plus good hearing to spot danger far away.
• Growing up: Fluffy striped chicks hatch able to walk, grow fast, and reach adult size by about a year.

Where it lives

• Habitat: Open savannas, dry grasslands, and semi-deserts with room to run.
• Where in the world: Across the dry open lands of Africa, mainly south of the Sahara.
• Territory: Males defend a nesting territory during breeding season and share overlapping ranges the rest of the year.

What it eats

• Diet: Mainly a plant eater that also swallows small animals and pebbles, and can go a long time on the water in its food.
• Favorite foods: Seeds, leaves, roots, and flowers, plus insects and small lizards when it finds them.
• How it hunts: Not a big hunter; it strolls the plains pecking up plants and tiny creatures and swallows small stones to help grind its food.

How it behaves

• How it moves: Walks and strides on two long legs and runs in huge bounding steps, using its wings for balance while turning.
• When it is active: Active by day, feeding in the cooler morning and evening and resting during the midday heat.
• Family life: Social birds that live in small flocks, sometimes mixing with grazing animals like zebras.
• How it talks: Males give a deep booming call during breeding season, and the flock uses hisses and body posture.
• Babies: Several females lay their eggs in one shared nest on the ground; the male and main female take turns keeping them warm.

Its place in nature

• Role in nature: It spreads seeds across the savanna as it feeds; lions, leopards, hyenas, and cheetahs hunt it and its chicks.
• Conservation: Listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, though some regional populations have declined.
• Dangers: Chicks are lost most often to predators, while adults face predators, drought, and hunting.

Life & legacy

• How long it lives: Around 30 to 40 years in the wild and in captivity.
• In our culture: Famous for its giant eggs and beautiful feathers, and raised on farms around the world.
• Where to see it: African savannas like the Serengeti and Kruger, plus ostrich farms and reputable zoos worldwide.
• Fun fact: An ostrich egg is the largest egg of any living bird, weighing about as much as two dozen chicken eggs.