50 Fun Facts About Ostrich

The ostrich is native to which continent?

It once lived in Arabia too, but that population was hunted to extinction around 1966.

How many living ostrich species are there?

The Somali ostrich was split off as a full species by BirdLife International in 2014; it prefers bushland to open savanna.

The ostrich holds the record for the fastest land speed of any what?

It cruises at 55 km/h and sprints at about 70, covering 3 to 5 metres in a stride.

Which extinct birds laid larger eggs than the ostrich?

Madagascar's Aepyornis maximus and New Zealand's Dinornis robustus both beat it; among living birds it has no rival.

How tall does a male ostrich stand?

Males weigh 100 to 130 kg; an exceptional bird has topped 156 kg.

What colour are an adult male ostrich's feathers?

Females and young males are greyish-brown; the head and neck of both sexes are almost bare.

An ostrich's eyes, at 50 mm across, are the largest of any what?

They help the bird spot lions from a great distance; the head and bill are tiny by comparison.

How many toes does an ostrich have on each foot?

Most birds have four; the big inner toe carries a hoof-like nail and the outer one has none, an adaptation for running.

Why is ostrich plumage soft and fluffy rather than sleek?

That makes them useless for flight but excellent insulation, and it is why they made such good hat plumes.

What do an ostrich's wings do when it runs?

Tests show they are actively used in rapid braking, turning and zigzag manoeuvres; the span is about 2 metres.

What is missing from an ostrich's breastbone that flying birds have?

With no keel there is nothing for big flight muscles to anchor to; the group's name comes from the Latin for raft.

The ostrich is unique among living birds in doing what?

Every other bird stores both together in the coprodeum; the ostrich keeps faeces in the terminal rectum.

As the largest living bird, the ostrich is also the largest living what?

That is why palaeontologists use ostriches to model the biomechanics of extinct dinosaurs.

The species name camelus refers to the ancient Greek name for the ostrich, meaning what?

'Strouthokamelos' is still the modern Greek word; the 'camel' bit refers to its dry habitat.

Ostriches belong to which group of flightless birds, alongside emus, rheas and kiwis?

Genetic work shows the group is not a natural one, so ostriches now have the order Struthioniformes to themselves.

What is thought to have split the Somali ostrich from other ostriches 4 million years ago?

It browses bushland while the neighbouring Masai ostrich grazes open savanna, which keeps the two from interbreeding much.

DNA from fossil eggshells shows ostriches lived in which country 25,000 years ago?

Shells from Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh were 92% genetically similar to the North African ostrich.

Which country has a feral ostrich population descended from farm escapees?

They were introduced for farming and a small population now roams the outback.

How does an ostrich hide from predators when it cannot run?

From a distance, helped by heat haze, the bird looks like a mound of earth.

How much force can an ostrich's kick deliver?

The legs can only kick forward, but the long claws can disembowel a lion or a person.

Lacking teeth, what do ostriches swallow to grind food in the gizzard?

They also happily eat locusts, mice, lizards and leftovers from predators' kills alongside seeds and grass.

Ostriches can go without drinking for several days by using what?

They still love a bath when water is available; plants like Euphorbia heterochroma can be 87% water.

A territorial male ostrich 'booms' by doing what?

He defends a harem of two to seven hens but forms a pair bond with just one 'major' female.

Where do ostrich hens lay their eggs?

The pit is 30 to 60 cm deep and 3 metres wide; the dominant hen lays first and discards weaker hens' eggs, leaving about 20.

An ostrich egg weighs about how much?

That is over 20 times a chicken's egg, yet only 1 to 4% of the mother's weight, the smallest ratio of any bird.

How do ostrich parents share incubation?

The drab brown hen blends in by daylight and the black cock disappears in the dark.

How long is the ostrich's incubation period?

That is short for a ratite; fewer than 10% of nests survive the nine weeks of laying and incubation.

What share of surviving ostrich chicks live to one year old?

Jackals, warthogs, mongooses and birds of prey take a heavy toll on nests and young.

What is the record age for a captive ostrich?

In the wild, most never get past their first year.

Which bird has been known to hurl stones at ostrich eggs to crack them open?

It is one of the few tool-using birds; the eggshell is too thick to break any other way.

On North American ostrich farms, adult birds have been recorded doing what to coyotes?

With no natural enemies there, they behave like overgrown guard dogs.

Contrary to popular belief, ostriches do not do what?

The myth may come from birds turning eggs in their sand pits with their beaks, and gave rise to the term 'ostrich effect'.

Which Roman writer probably started the myth that ostriches think they're hidden when their head is in a bush?

The 'ostrich effect', a term for avoiding bad news, descends from the same misconception.

Kalahari hunter-gatherers have long used ostrich eggshells as what?

Engraved eggshells from Diepkloof Rock Shelter date back some 60,000 years.

A statue found in an Egyptian tomb shows which queen riding an ostrich?

Ostriches have inspired cultures in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Kush for some 5,000 years.

In Roman times ostriches were in demand for what?

By the 18th century they had been hunted almost to extinction; feather farming began in the 19th.

The market for ostrich feathers collapsed after which event?

Nineteenth-century hats had driven the boom; farming revived in the 1970s for skins and meat instead.

Ostriches have been farmed in which country since the early 19th century?

The English are credited with first taming ostriches outside Cape Town.

Ostrich meat is described as tasting like what?

It is low in fat and cholesterol and is considered both poultry and red meat.

The town of Oudtshoorn, centre of the Karoo's farming industry, is notable for what grim statistic?

That makes the birds there statistically the world's most dangerous, since farms sit beside wild and feral flocks.

Ostrich racing, part of modern South African culture, also happens in which Californian town?

Indio pairs it with camel racing; farms now set weight limits for riders on ethical grounds.

Which subspecies became extinct around 1966?

Attempts to reintroduce ostriches to Israel have failed; North African birds are on CITES Appendix I.

An ostrich's tarsus, the largest of any living bird, measures how long?

The scales on it are red in males and black in females.

Ostriches have evolved a 'selective brain cooling' mechanism to cope with what?

They also fluff their feathers to shed heat and flatten them to keep it in on cold nights, when a 'brain warming' trick kicks in.

Ostriches often travel with which other grazing animals?

In breeding season they roam in nomadic groups of five to a hundred led by a top hen.

How far can a running ostrich cover in a single stride?

Its wingspan is about 2 metres, with a wing chord matching that of the largest flying birds.

What colour are the leg scales of a male ostrich, compared with black on the female?

The nail on the larger inner toe resembles a hoof; the outer toe has no nail at all.

Since 2014, BirdLife International has recognised which bird as a second, separate species?

Unlike the grazing Masai ostrich, it prefers bushland and browses middle-height vegetation.

Roughly how large is a male ostrich's territory?

Outside the breeding season ostriches usually spend winter alone or in pairs.

A territorial male ostrich typically keeps a harem of how many hens?

He mates with several but forms a pair bond only with one 'major' female.