ostrich

ostrich, (Struthio camelus), large flightless bird found only in open country in Africa. The largest living bird, an adult male may be 2.75 metres (about 9 feet) tall—almost half of its height is neck—and weigh more than 150 kg (330 pounds); the female is somewhat smaller. The ostrich’s egg, averaging about 150 mm (6 inches) in length by 125 mm (5 inches) in diameter and about 1.35 kg (3 pounds), is also the world’s largest. The male is mostly black but has white plumes in the wings and tail; females are mostly brown. The head and most of the neck, reddish to bluish in colour, is lightly downed; the legs, including the powerful thighs, are bare. The head is small, the bill short and rather wide; the big brown eyes have thick black lashes.

Ostriches are seen individually, in pairs, in small flocks, or in large aggregations, depending on the season. The ostrich relies on its strong legs—uniquely two-toed, with the main toe developed almost as a hoof—to escape its enemies, chiefly humans and the larger carnivores. A frightened ostrich can achieve a speed of 72.5 km (45 miles) per hour. If cornered, it can deliver dangerous kicks.

Ostriches live mainly on vegetation but also take some animal food, mainly insects; they can go without water for long periods. Breeding males emit lionlike roars and hisses as they fight for a harem of three to five hens. A communal nest scraped in the ground contains more than a dozen shiny, whitish eggs. The major hen of the harem may get rid of some of the eggs to make incubation more manageable. The male sits on the eggs by night; the females take turns during the day. The chicks hatch in about 40 days and when a month old can keep up with running adults. To escape detection, chicks as well as adults may lie on the ground with neck outstretched, a habit that may have given rise to the mistaken belief that the ostrich buries its head in the sand when danger threatens. Ostrich plumes adorned the helmets of medieval European knights, and in the 19th century such plumes were sold for women’s finery. This demand led to the establishment of ostrich farms in South Africa, the southern United States, Australia, and elsewhere, but the trade collapsed after World War I. Ostriches are now raised for their meat and hide, which provides a soft, fine-grained leather. The birds have been trained for saddle and sulky racing, but they tire easily and are not well suited for training. They do well in captivity and may live 50 years.

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The ostrich is typical of a group of flightless birds called ratites. Ostrich populations differing slightly in skin colour, size, and egg features formerly were considered separate species, but now they are considered to be merely races of Struthio camelus. Most familiar is the North African ostrich, S. camelus camelus, ranging, in much-reduced numbers, from Morocco to Sudan. Ostriches also live in eastern and southern Africa. The Syrian ostrich (S. camelus syriacus) of Syria and Arabia became extinct in 1941. The ostrich is the only living species in the genus Struthio. Ostriches are the only members of the family Struthionidae in the order Struthioniformes—a group that also contains kiwis, emus, cassowaries, and rheas. The oldest fossil relatives of ostriches belong to the species Calciavis grandei, which were excavated from the Green River Formation in Wyoming and date to the Eocene Epoch, some 56 million to 34 million years ago.