Ostrich Family
- The biggest and heaviest bird still alive is the ostrich.
- Struthioniformes Family: Struthiondae Genus: Struthio Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Struthio
- A Somali ostrich (Struthio molybdophanes) and a usual ostrich (Struthio camelus) are the two extant species of ostrich.
Dimensions and Mass:
An ostrich is the biggest and heaviest bird that is still alive. Usually weighing between 220 and 287 pounds and standing between 6.9 and 9 feet tall, males are larger than females. In contrast, females vary in height from about 5.7 to 6.2 steps and weigh between 198 and 242 pounds.
Look:
Ostriches are the world’s biggest and heaviest birds according to their appearance. They are unable to soar through the sky due to their weight. On the other hand, ostriches can run as many as 43 miles in one hour and are excellent runners. A stride may have a length of 10 to 16 feet. They can travel at such high speeds because of their powerful, long legs and two-clawed toes.
An ostrich features sweeping eyelashes, prominent eyes, and a long neck. Out of all land animals, ostrich-like have the largest eyes. The size of an ostrich’s eye is almost two inches. They can see far away thanks to their lengthy necks and good eyesight, which enables these individuals to constantly keep their eyes out for beasts.
Ostriches are known for having unusual feathers that are smooth, soft, and loose, giving them a “shaggy” appearance. While young birds alongside adult females possess brownish-gray feathers, adult male ostrich-like are black with white feathers along with tail feathers.
Nutrition:
Ostriches consume an omnivorous diet. The food that is accessible in their habitat determines the variation in their diet. Although they mostly consume plants, they also consume rodents, insects, snakes, and lizards. Their tough intestines allow them to absorb as much nutrition as possible, allowing them to eat things that other creatures cannot. Additionally, ostriches swallow small stones, pebbles, and sand to aid in the gizzard’s grinding of food. Ostriches consume a lot of trees, so they don’t require water. They might, nevertheless, sip water from a water hole.
Habitat:
Ostrich habitats include desert areas and savannas.
Geographically:
The ostrich is indigenous to Africa.
Breeding:
Reproduction: The courtship of ostriches is coordinated and ritualized. A man attracted a female by using his black-and-white coloring. Like a bow, he will descend to the ground and raise and lower his tail as he waves and shakes the feathers of one wing, then the other. He then stands up and approaches the female, stamping and spreading his wings in an attempt to win her over. She matches with him if she gives the okay.
The territorial male and the dominant hen mate, and together they are responsible for both egg incubation and chick care. The polygamous, territorial male can mate with multiple females. The other females can mate with stray males. Next, the other girls lay their eggs.
The male has made a shallow depression in the ground to serve as the nest. The dominant hen positions her eggs so that they are most likely to develop successfully—closest to the center. A shared nest increases the number of eggs that hatch successfully for the flock as a whole. An ostrich female will lay seven to ten eggs at one time. The largest eggs are ostrich eggs, which have dimensions of six inches in length and 5 inches in diameter, and weigh roughly 3 pounds. Larger eggs were only produced by dinosaurs.
Cross Breeding:
Incubation lasts between 42 and 46 days. The chicks develop at a rate of one foot per month after hatching, and they are roughly the size of barnyard chickens. A few days before the chicks begin to leave their nest with their parents,days following emergence. They begin to display their adult plumage at four months, and by six months of age, they have grown to resemble their parents in size. Male ostriches develop their black-and-white feathers around the time they reach sexual maturity, which is around age three or four.
Social Structure: To aid in defense, ostriches live in groups. They can occasionally congregate in sizable flocks of 100 birds or more, but they are usually found in groups of no more than ten birds or as a male & female pair. A prevailing male, an envious female known as the “main hen,” and a few other females make up the pecking order in these groups. The dominant male creates and guards their domain. During the breeding season, lone males might also appear and disappear.
Lifespan: Ostriches have a 30- to 40-year lifespan in the wild. However, ostriches kept in captivity were reported to be 70 years old.
Threats:
Cheetahs, lions, leopards, as well hunting dogs, and spotted hyenas are among the ostrich’s natural predators. Ostrich eggs may be taken by jackals and Egyptian vultures, among other predators. An ostrich will fall to ground and stay motionless, keeping its neck and head flat upon the ground to blend in with the surroundings when it detects danger and is unable to flee. An adult ostrich will attack with a clawed foot that can kick a lion to death if it feels threatened.
The habitats and populations of ostriches are seriously threatened by human activity. Ostriches have lost their natural habitat due to the increasing size of human populations. Feathers from ostriches have long been in style. The 18th century saw a huge demand for ostrich feathers in Ostrich farming, which remains on a smaller scale, allowing the population to recover after it declined due to fashion, especially in the hat industry. Ostriches are raised and hunted for their feathers, flesh, meat, eggs, and fat.
Conservation Status:
Meanwhile, the Somali ostrich is listed as “Vulnerable.”
Conservation Efforts:
Strict protection and farming are needed to conserve the remaining ostrich populations. Conservation groups and government agencies work to protect these populations. For example, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park works with the red-necked ostrich in Niger and provides technical expertise and funding to develop and manage a breeding program for the birds. This helps to establish secure and self-sustaining populations in that country. The African Wildlife Foundation helps to conserve ostrich populations by working with local communities to decide on an appropriate plan to bring tourism to the area.
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