Common ostrich facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Common ostrich |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) |
|||||
| South African (S. c. australis) male (left) and females | |||||
| Conservation status | |||||
Scientific classification  |
|||||
| Kingdom: | Animalia | ||||
| Phylum: | Chordata | ||||
| Class: | Aves | ||||
| Order: | Struthioniformes | ||||
| Family: | Struthionidae | ||||
| Genus: | Struthio | ||||
| Species: |
S. camelus
|
||||
| Binomial name | |||||
| Struthio camelus Linnaeus, 1758
|
|||||
| Subspecies | |||||
|
|||||
 |
|||||
Struthio distribution map
|
|||||
| Script error: The function "autoWithCaption" does not exist. | |||||
| Synonyms | |||||
|
List
Charadrius bidactylus G. R. Gray, 1847
Struthio australis Gurney, 1868 Struthio massaicus Neumann, 1898 Struthio camelus spatzi Stresemann, 1926 Struthio camelus rothschildi Grant & Mackworth-Praed, 1951 |
|||||
Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters".
The common ostrich (Struthio camelus), or simply ostrich, is a large species of flightless bird. It is native to Africa and is the largest living bird on our planet. It belongs to the genus Struthio in an ancient group called ratites. Today, there is only one other living ostrich species, the Somali ostrich. Scientists at BirdLife International recognised the Somali ostrich as its own species in 2014. Before that discovery, people thought it was just a subspecies.
The ostrich belongs to the biological order Struthioniformes. Long ago, scientists grouped other flightless birds like the kiwi, the emu, the rhea, and the cassowary together. Modern genetic tests show that ostriches are actually unique and stand apart from other birds in Palaeognathae. They are even distant relatives of the small flying tinamous and the extinct moa. Ostriches have very long necks and strong legs. They can sprint for a long time at 55 km/h (34 mph). When sprinting away from predators, they reach bursts of 70 km/h (43 mph). This makes them the fastest land animals on two legs. The ostrich also lays the largest eggs of any living bird. In the ancient past, only the extinct giant elephant bird of Madagascar and the giant moa of New Zealand laid bigger eggs.
These huge birds eat plants, seeds, insects, and tiny reptiles. They wander across plains in groups of 5 to 50 birds. When danger approaches, an ostrich lies flat against the dusty dirt to hide. If a predator gets too close, the ostrich runs at super speeds. If it is cornered, its powerful forward kick can drive off enemies. People also raise ostriches on farms across the world. Their feathers decorate costumes and make handy feather dusters. People make jackets and boots from smooth leather, and they cook lean ostrich meat.
Contents
Physical Features and Body Size of the Giant Bird
The common ostrich is taller and heavier than any other living bird on Earth. Adult males reach heights of 2.1 to 2.75 m (6 ft 11 in to 9 ft 0 in) and weigh 100 to 130 kg (220 to 290 lb). Females stand 1.75 to 1.9 m (5 ft 9 in to 6 ft 3 in) tall and weigh between 90 to 120 kg (200 to 260 lb). Some enormous males can even weigh as much as 156.8 kg (346 lb). Newly hatched chicks have soft fawn feathers covered with dark brown spots. These spots help them hide in the dry grass from hungry hunters. After three months, the young chicks grow thicker juvenile feathers. By their second year, they show their full adult colours. At five months old, they reach half their adult size. They reach their full adult height within one year. However, they need 18 months to gain their full adult weight.
Adult male ostriches show off bold black body feathers with bright white wing feathers and tails. Female ostriches and young birds display softer greyish-brown and white feathers. This dusty colour helps them blend perfectly into dry dirt environments. The head and long neck of an ostrich look almost completely bare. In reality, they are covered in a thin coat of fluffy down feathers. Female ostriches have pinkish-grey skin on their neck and thighs. Males show grey or pink skin, depending on which subspecies they belong to.
-
The head feathering consists of a thin layer of down.
-
Long eyelashes protect the eyes.
-
Feet are frequently missing the nail on the outer toe.
-
Skull
-
Claws on the wings
-
-
Male running, Namibia
_in_Jardim_Zool%C3%B3gico_de_Curitiba.jpg)
_male_running_composite.jpg)
An ostrich's long neck lifts its head up to 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in) into the air. This height gives the bird an amazing view across wide open plains. Their huge eyes measure 50 mm (2.0 in) across, making them larger than any other land animal's eyes. Long dark eyelashes shade their eyes from bright desert sunlight. Even though the body is massive, the head and bill are surprisingly small. The bill measures only 12 to 14.3 cm (4.7 to 5.6 in) long.
The bare legs of an ostrich are thick and built for extreme running. The lower leg, called the tarsus, is covered in strong protective scales. These scales look red on adult males and black on females. The tarsus can grow between 39 to 53 cm (15 to 21 in) long, which is larger than any other bird's leg bone. The ostrich is didactyl, which means it has only two toes on each of its feet. Most other bird species have four toes. The large inner toe has a sharp claw shaped like a tough hoof. The small outer toe has no claw at all. Having only two toes helps the ostrich spring forward quickly across rough ground. A single running stride can carry the bird 3 to 5 m (9.8 to 16.4 ft) forward. Its wings stretch out over 2 m (6 ft 7 in) across. The wing length of 90 cm (35 in) is as long as the wings of huge flying birds.
Ostrich feathers do not have the microscopic hooks that lock bird feathers together for flight. Instead, their plumage is loose, soft, and very fluffy. These soft feathers trap pockets of air to protect the bird from hot sun and freezing nights. Temperatures in their desert home can swing by 40 °C (72 °F) in a single day. Ostriches lift their wings to let cool air blow across their bare skin. When the air turns icy cold at night, they clamp their wings down tight to stay warm. Their wings also act like air rudders when running at high speeds. By tilting their wings, ostriches can make sudden turns, weave in zigzags, and brake instantly. Each wing carries 16 primary flight feathers and about 20 secondary feathers.
Unlike birds that fly in the sky, an ostrich has a smooth, flat chest bone called a sternum. It completely lacks the raised keel bone where flight muscles attach. The bird's beak is flat and rounded at the tip. Like other ratites, it has no food pouch called a crop in its throat. Inside its belly, the ostrich also lacks a gallbladder, but it has a digestive tube called a caecum that is 71 cm (28 in) long. Unlike other birds, the ostrich stores waste separately before letting it out. It also has fused pubic bones to support its heavy belly organs. Because birds descended directly from theropods, the ostrich is known as the largest living dinosaur on Earth today. Scientists study how ostriches walk and run to understand the biomechanics of ancient extinct dinosaurs.
Taxonomy and Subspecies of the Common Ostrich
Famous Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus first described the ostrich scientifically in 1758. He gave it the Latin name in his classic biology book, Systema Naturae. The name comes from the Late Latin word for ostrich and an Ancient Greek word that translates as camel-sparrow. Ancient thinkers thought the bird had traits like a camel because it lived in dry, sandy deserts.
Ostriches belong to the group Palaeognathae, which includes ancient flightless birds known as ratites. Other relatives include South American rheas, Australian emus, rainforest cassowaries, tiny kiwis, and flying tinamous. Extinct relatives include the massive elephant bird and tall moa.
Living and Extinct Subspecies
Scientists recognise four main subspecies of the common ostrich across the world:
| Subspecies | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|
| North African ostrich (S. c. camelus), also called the red-necked ostrich | This giant bird lives across North Africa and the Sahel. It was once found from Ethiopia and Sudan all the way to Senegal, Mauritania, Egypt, and Morocco. Sadly, it has vanished from many areas and is now Critically Endangered. It can grow up to 2.74 m (9 ft 0 in) tall and weigh up to 154 kg (340 lb). It has a pinkish-red neck. Males have black and white plumage, while females wear grey feathers. |  |
| South African ostrich (S. c. australis), also called the black-necked ostrich | This bird lives south of the Zambezi and Cunene rivers. Farmers raise it in the Little Karoo region of South Africa for feathers, lean meat, and durable leather. | _male_(13994461256).jpg) |
| Masai ostrich (S. c. massaicus), also called the pink-necked ostrich | This ostrich has small feathers on its head and bright pink skin on its neck and legs. During the breeding season, the male's neck turns bright pink. It lives across open grasslands in East Africa. |  |
| Arabian ostrich (S. c. syriacus), also called the Syrian ostrich | This subspecies lived across the Arabian Peninsula, Syria, Iraq, and the Negev desert. People hunted it until it became completely extinct around 1966.
|
 |
| Species | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Somali ostrich (S. molybdophanes), also called the blue-necked ostrich | This bird lives in the horn of Africa. Its neck and thighs are greyish-blue. During the breeding months, the male's skin turns bright blue. It lives alone or in pairs rather than in large flocks. |  |
Major groups like the Tree of Life Web Project, the Clements Checklist, and BirdLife International recognise the Somali ostrich as a distinct species. Some lists, such as the Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, previously grouped them together. Genetic research shows that the Somali ostrich split from the common ostrich about 4 million years ago. This split happened when the giant East African Rift valley formed. The Somali ostrich lives in bushy scrublands where it browses on shrubs. The Masai ostrich prefers open grasslands across the savanna and miombo woodlands.
In western Africa, a population from Río de Oro was once named Struthio camelus spatzi due to odd pores in its eggshells. Most biologists consider it the same as the North African ostrich, though some museum bone studies suggested differences. That wild population vanished during the late 1900s.
Distribution and Habitat Across Open Landscapes
Common ostriches once lived across ancient Africa, parts of Arabia, and across Asia Minor. Today, wild ostriches live in the open savannas and dry Sahel grasslands of Africa. They avoid thick jungles and damp tropical rainforests. In southwestern Africa, they wander through dry scrublands and harsh deserts. Ostriches taken to farms in Australia escaped over the years and formed feral wild groups in the dry Australian outback. People hunted the wild Arabian ostrich until it vanished during the twentieth century. Scientists also discovered ancient eggshell fossils showing that ostriches lived in India roughly 25,000 years ago. Genetic tests showed these fossils were closely related to African birds.
Behaviour and Daily Life in the Wild
During quiet winter months, ostriches live peacefully in small pairs or alone. Most wild sightings feature just one or two birds walking together. When dry seasons arrive, ostriches form nomadic herds of 5 to 100 birds. An experienced older female often leads the flock across dry landscapes. These herds frequently travel alongside grazing animals like plains zebras and agile antelopes. Zebras stir up insects for the birds, while ostriches use their tall height to watch for danger. Ostriches are diurnal, meaning they stay awake during daylight hours. However, they may wander under bright moonlight. An adult male claims a territory that covers between 2 and 20 km2 (0.77 and 7.72 sq mi).
Ostriches have outstanding eyesight and sharp hearing to spot danger. If an ostrich sees a hungry predator approaching, it can sprint faster than 70 km/h (43 mph). It can easily maintain a steady speed of 50 km/h (31 mph) across miles of dusty terrain. When resting on the ground, an ostrich stretches its long neck flat against the sand. From a distance, its body looks like an ordinary mound of dry earth. This trick hides the bird in hot desert heat hazes.
If an ostrich cannot run away from danger, it uses powerful defensive kicks. Because of its leg joints, an ostrich can only kick forward. A single kick delivers 225 kgf (2,210 N; 500 lbf) of force, backed by a sharp claw. This blow can drive away dangerous predators.
Feeding Habits and Digestion
Ostriches eat mostly plant matter, including wild seeds, bushes, grasses, succulent fruits, and flowers. They also catch moving insects like swarming locusts. Sometimes they swallow small desert lizards, little rodents like mice, and scraps left by carnivores. Because ostriches do not have teeth, they swallow smooth stones called gastroliths. These hard stones sit inside a muscular organ called the gizzard to crush up tough food.
When an ostrich eats, it fills up its gullet with a big ball of plant food called a bolus. This ball can measure 210 mL (7.4 imp fl oz; 7.1 US fl oz) in volume. It slides smoothly down the long throat because the bird has no storage crop. The food lands directly inside the muscular gizzard. An ostrich gizzard can hold 1,300 g (46 oz) of matter, and up to 45% of that weight consists of grinding stones. Ostriches can survive for days without drinking standing water. They get moisture from succulent desert plants and generate metabolic water internally. However, they love drinking clean water when they find a river and splash joyfully in ponds. An ostrich can lose up to 25% of its total body weight through dehydration and still survive.
Reproduction and Life Cycle
Ostriches reach adulthood between 2 and 4 years of age. Females mature six months earlier than males. Like most birds, an ostrich can raise many families throughout its long life. The breeding season begins during early spring and continues through late summer. Adult males defend a home territory and produce deep, booming calls by puffing up their necks. A male gathers a small group of several females to lay eggs in his territory.
To court a female, the male crouches down and flaps his large wings from side to side in a rhythmic dance. He drives away all rival males to keep his space clear. Once the pair synchronises their movements, the male kneels on the ground and shakes his wings vigorously. He circles his head in an impressive spiral motion while the female lowers her wings. In zoological parks, ostriches hand-raised by humans sometimes perform this wing dance for their human keepers.
-
Only 15% of hatchling chicks reach 1 year of age.
-
Chick
-
Recently hatched from egg
-
Hen with chicks
-
Female incubating eggs
-
Nest
.JPG)
The male scrapes out a simple nest in the dry dirt about 30 to 60 cm (12 to 24 in) deep and 3 m (9.8 ft) wide. All the hens in his group lay their eggs in this single community nest. The head female lays her eggs first and rolls aside excess eggs from weaker females. She keeps about 20 chosen eggs in the middle of the nest pit. She can easily recognise her own glossy eggs among the rest. Ostrich eggs are the largest laid by any bird living today. They average 15 cm (5.9 in) long, 13 cm (5.1 in) wide, and weigh about 1.4 kg (3.1 lb). That is twenty times heavier than a domestic chicken egg. The shells are creamy white, extremely thick, and marked with tiny pits.
The parents take turns warming the eggs during the nesting period. The drab female sits on the nest during the day, blending into the surrounding sand. The black-feathered male sits on the nest at night, staying invisible in the darkness. The eggs take between 35 and 45 days of incubation to hatch. Once the chicks break out of their shells, both parents protect them from dangers. The male shows the chicks how to find tender shoots and peck for food. Life in the wild is very challenging for tiny chicks. Only 15% of chicks survive their first year due to hungry desert hunters. However, if an ostrich reaches adulthood, it can live a very long life. Captive ostriches in zoos have lived to reach 62 years of age.
Predators and Survival Strategies
_-_Cheetah_hunting_ostrich_2.png)
Living on open African plains means ostriches share their home with fierce carnivores. Big predators that hunt ostriches include swift cheetahs, prides of lions, clever leopards, African hunting dog packs, and spotted hyenas. Smaller animals hunt the unprotected eggs and baby chicks. These include jackals, aggressive birds of prey, foraging warthogs, quick mongooses, and Egyptian vultures. Egyptian vultures use stones held in their beaks to crack open thick ostrich eggshells.
To stay safe, ostriches rely on sharp eyesight, great speed, and teamwork. They often feed beside herds of wildebeests and zebras so multiple animals can scan the horizon. If an enemy appears, ostriches can sprint away across the open dirt. If a predator approaches a nest with young chicks, parent ostriches will pretend to have a broken wing to lure the hunter away. If cornered, an ostrich uses its heavy, clawed kick to defend its babies. They are fierce enough to fight off big hyenas and even lions. On modern ostrich ranches in North America, adult ostriches act like giant watchdogs and have driven away wild coyotes.
Fascinating Body Systems of the Common Ostrich
How Ostriches Breathe
The respiratory system of an ostrich is built for running across hot deserts. Air enters through the nostrils on its beak and travels down a long windpipe called the trachea. At the chest, the trachea reaches the voice box, or syrinx, before dividing into tubes that connect to the lungs.
Ostriches have ten internal air sacs attached to their lungs. These air sacs act like bellows that pump fresh air through the body. Unlike humans, who breathe air in and out through the same pathway, birds pump air in one continuous direction through their lungs. Fresh air moves across tiny tubes called parabronchi. Because air flows unidirectionally, blood absorbs high amounts of oxygen. The respiratory system of a 100 kg (220 lb) ostrich can hold 15 L (3.3 imp gal; 4.0 US gal) of air. A single breath draws in about 1.2–1.5 L (0.26–0.33 imp gal; 0.32–0.40 US gal) of air.
Ostriches do not have sweat glands in their skin. When the weather gets hot, an ostrich pants rapidly to cool off. This panting evaporates moisture from its throat without wasting important body salts. While resting, an ostrich breathes 6 to 12 times a minute. When running or panting in extreme heat, it takes 40 to 60 quick breaths a minute.
Heart and Blood Circulation
An ostrich has a large four-chambered heart that pumps blood through a double-loop circuit. The right side pumps blood to the lungs to gather oxygen, while the strong left side sends blood out to the muscles. The heart is wrapped in a protective sac called the pericardium. Inside the heart, special muscle bands with Purkinje fibres trigger powerful contractions.
The red blood cells of an ostrich are about three times bigger than human red blood cells. The bird uses specialized haemoglobin molecules inside these cells to carry oxygen through its body. Wild ostriches have powerful immune systems with lots of phagocytes that destroy germs.
Water Balance and Kidneys
Ostriches are true desert-adapted animals. They survive in environments where drinking water is rare. The bird saves water by extracting moisture from desert succulents like Euphorbia heterochroma, which are 87% water. Ostriches also create moisture through the catabolism of foods in their gut.
The ostrich has two large, chocolate-brown kidneys tucked along its back. These kidneys clean the blood and remove body waste. Ostriches excrete nitrogen as thick, pasty uric acid rather than liquid urine, saving body moisture. When drinking water is abundant, their kidneys produce diluted fluids. When water is scarce, the bird produces concentrated waste. Two hormones, arginine vasotocin and angiotensin, help the kidneys hold onto every drop of water during dry spells.
Keeping Cool in the Desert Heat
Ostriches are warm-blooded animals that keep their inner body temperature between 38.1–39.7 °C (100.6–103.5 °F). In deserts reaching 50 °C (122 °F), the ostrich keeps its core temperature steady around 40 °C (104 °F). They fluff their feathers in hot weather to let breezes reach their skin. In freezing night weather, they pull their feathers tight to insulate their bodies. Ostriches also flutter their bare throat skin in a motion called gular fluttering to release heat.
Ostriches have a built-in cooling system for their head. Cool blood flowing back from the beak and eyes runs through an artery network called the ophthalmic rete. This network cools down hot blood heading toward the brain. This system protects the ostrich's brain from overheating while sprinting under the African sun.
Conservation and Human History
During the past two centuries, wild ostrich populations declined as human towns expanded. Fortunately, because ostriches still range across wide protected parks, the IUCN lists the common ostrich as a species of least concern. However, the wild North African ostrich has become quite rare and is protected under CITES Appendix I. The desert Arabian ostrich vanished completely in the 1960s due to overhunting.
Humans have interacted with ostriches for thousands of years. Ancient hunters in the Kalahari made water canteens from empty ostrich eggshells by drilling a small hole in the top. Artists in the Middle Stone Age carved patterns into eggshells at Diepkloof Rock Shelter in South Africa over 60,000 years ago. In ancient Egypt, people carved statues of royal figures, such as Arsinoe II of Egypt, riding upon ostriches. In early churches, people hung ostrich eggshells over hanging oil lamps to prevent mice from climbing down the ropes.
Debunking the "Head in the Sand" Myth
A famous old myth claims that ostriches bury their heads in the sand when they are scared. This story is completely false! Ostriches never bury their heads in the dirt. An ancient Roman writer named Pliny the Elder helped spread this myth when he wrote that ostriches hide their heads in bushes. In reality, people seeing an ostrich from far away were confused by natural behaviours. Ostriches lower their heads to swallow small stones from the dirt to help their digestion. When predators approach, ostriches also crouch low to the earth to hide. From a distance, a crouching ostrich looks like a mound of dirt with no head.
Farming and Modern Uses
People have raised ostriches on commercial ranches since the early 1800s. Early settlers near Cape Town, South Africa, tamed wild ostrich chicks to clip their fluffy feathers. Plucking feathers from farmed birds saved wild ostriches from being hunted. Ostrich plumes became popular decorations for fancy hats and clothes in Victorian times. Today, farmers raise ostriches for smooth leather boots, soft feather dusters, and lean red meat that tastes like beef.
Some ranches invite visitors for agritourism tours. In certain parts of South Africa and the United States, visitors used to watch ostrich races. An ostrich farm opened in Jacksonville, Florida in 1892 and became a popular stop in the history of Florida. Today, towns like Chandler, Arizona still hold celebrations like the annual Ostrich Festival.
See also
In Spanish: Avestruz para niños
- Tallest extant birds
