Igor Nikolaev

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Ostriches are the largest birds on the planet. The creations are amazing. What an ostrich looks like, even children know. Many fairy tales have been written about them, a large number of animated films have been created. Everyone knows for sure that ostriches hide their heads in the sand when they are very scared of something. In fact, they don't. At the sight of danger, they lie down on the ground, hide. This is evidenced by many photographs and images of birds. Where did ostriches come from? What is their characteristic?

Origin of the bird

Scientists note the similarity of ostriches with dinosaurs. They found out that they are related at the gene level. In their DNA, they are close to tyrannosaurs. Animals had 4 limbs. The anterior ones were poorly developed. They served to grab food. The hind limbs were strong. The animals ran fast. Tyrannosaurs had a long tail, which was a necessary balance for them. A small flat head, a long neck, an elongated, taut body of an ancient animal - all this resembles an ostrich.

Considering the relationship with tyrannosaurs, scientists nevertheless came to the conclusion that, despite the genetic relationship, modern ostriches descended from a bird. They flew, their hind limbs were not so strongly developed, their weight and body size were small. It is assumed that due to climate change, the direct enemies of the bird have become extinct. She no longer needed to fly. She got food from trees, thanks to her long neck. The individual began to gain weight, increased in size, the wings and skeleton underwent changes, the hind limbs became more developed. She gradually transformed into an ostrich.

Birds cannot fly. The following reasons for this phenomenon are noted:

• birds lack a keel;
• the muscles that served for flight atrophied;
• the structure of the wing and the arrangement of the feathers are not conducive to flight;
• large weight of the individual;
• the bones are not hollow enough.

Few people know what the word "ostrich" means. Greek word. People saw in the bird the similarity of a camel and a sparrow. The meaning of the word sparrow-camel. What does an ostrich have in common with a small bird and a large animal?

The ostrich has little resemblance to a sparrow, only the fact that both birds have feathers, there is a beak on the head. But with camels there are similar characteristics:

• big size; massive body;
• developed bipedal limbs;
• Long neck;
• large eyes with well developed long eyelashes;
• the presence of thoracic callus;
• ability to live in hot climatic conditions;
• birds can be without water for a long time.

The growth of a male can reach 2.7 m. It weighs an average of 50-80 kg, but there are also large individuals, the mass of which can reach up to 160 kg. The wingspan is 2 m. The plumage is beautiful, not without reason the birds were and are the goal of hunters. Feathers decorated hats and dresses, fans. Individuals have 60 large tail feathers, 16 first-order flight feathers and 20 second-order flight feathers.

The plumage color of males is black, with white patches on the tail. The females have greyish plumage. It is not as intense as in males. Wings are used when running for balance. Ostriches are excellent runners. They can reach speeds of over 70 km/h. In this mode, they can withstand quite a long time. If there is no way to escape from danger, then they spread their wings, which gives them a fighting look. Males use their wings to attract females during the mating season.

The legs of the birds are muscular and strong. The limbs end with 2 fingers, on one there is a small growth in the form of a large claw. This is a hoof. It serves as a support during fast movement. An ostrich can fight with its feet. The impact force is large, comparable to the impact of a horse's hoof. In order for an ostrich to land on the ground, it must lean on something. It is supported by the chest. This explains the appearance of corns on the chest. Landing on the ground in individuals is the same as that of a camel.

Ostriches, like chickens, eat whatever is given to them, but by nature they are herbivores. They eat grass, leaves, young shoots of trees. In addition to greenery, they can eat small insects. Sometimes grasshoppers are caught. Individuals eat up to 3 kg of food per day. Individuals do not have teeth, they also lack a goiter. To grind food, they need to eat small stones.

The digestive system is unique. It is adapted for splitting coarse fibers. There is no goiter, but there is a proventriculus in which some food can collect. In the stomach there are sand and small stones, gastric juice is secreted. This is where the primary digestion of food takes place. Next, the food bolus passes into the small intestine. Its length is 5 m. The main splitting of coarse fibers occurs in the large intestine. Its length is 8 m.

Birds are unpretentious to the drinking regime. They drink a lot, but infrequently. One individual can drink up to 13 liters of water per day. Especially a lot of liquid they use in hot weather. Birds are able to take water from the succulent leaves of plants, so they can go without drinking for a long time.

Ostriches live in families. They consist of 5 females and 1 male. The family also includes offspring. When the young grow up He gathers in separate herds. The number of livestock of young animals can reach 100 goals. A family can be up to 30 individuals. The herd can be in the same territory with zebras and antelopes. For animals, such a neighborhood is favorable. Ostriches have very good eyesight. They can spot danger from miles away. The birds begin to worry, and the animals next to them understand that it is necessary to save themselves.

Many do not know where ostriches live. The answers are different, in Africa, in Australia, in Asia. Scientists answer unequivocally - ostriches live in Africa. The rest of the territories are inhabited by individuals of the cassowary species: these include the Australian emu and cassowary. There are nandu-shaped individuals: they include nanda, which outwardly are very similar to ostriches.

The main habitat is semi-desert and grasslands with good vegetation. They do not enter the equatorial forests. There are many dangers from which it is difficult to hide or escape. On average, a bird can live up to 75 years in the wild.

Main subspecies

There are 4 main subspecies of the ostrich in Africa: common or North African, South African, Somali and Masai. Individuals of each species have their own distinctive features. The largest ones belong to the North African subspecies: they are named after the location of the region where the individuals live. They live in Chad, Cameroon, Senegal, in the Central African Republic.

Ostrich description:

The Masai subspecies lives in the east of the continent. Herds can be found in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia. Individuals are not as large as the North African, but also differ in their large size. The peculiarity of the subspecies is that in males during the mating season, the body acquires a bright red hue. On the body it is poorly visible, but on the legs and neck the red color is visible from afar.

The habitat of the Somali subspecies is southern Ethiopia, Somalia, northeast Kenya. Birds can be recognized by their skin color. She is blue. This is especially noticeable on the legs and neck. Locals call an individual of the Somali subspecies "gorayo". Gorayos do not form large families. They live in pairs. If one of the partners dies, then the second one exists alone.

South African individuals occupy the territory of Namibia, Zimbabwe, Angola. Bird growth no more than 2 m. Weight up to 100 kg. The subspecies can be recognized not only by its relatively small size, but also by its plumage. The females have gray feathers. The same shade of ostrich skin.

reproduction

Puberty in a bird occurs at the age of 4 years. At this time, the female carries out the first clutch. The size of the egg is large: length 21 cm, width 13 cm. Weight is 2 kg. In terms of chicken eggs, this is 36 pcs. The shell is quite strong.

During the mating season, the male calls the female of his family. He spreads his wings, showing all the beauty of plumage. Arches the neck, rubs the back of the head against the back. He will not tolerate other males in the territory of his family. Sometimes there are fights for the leading female.

The future father has his own responsibilities. He makes a nest. To do this, the male digs a hole 60 cm deep, up to 2 m in diameter. All females of the family lay their eggs in this nest. Laying is carried out every other day. After placing the next portion of the eggs, the masonry is buried with sand.

The father incubates the eggs at night. It is not visible in the dark. It will not attract wild animals with its color. During the day, females sit on the nest: they have their own order. Females have a plumage color close to the shade of vegetation and soil. During the day they are less visible. Incubation of chicks lasts 45 days. Chicks hatch on their own without the help of their parents.

Chicks appear weighing 1.5 kg. They immediately get to their feet, open their eyes. The chicks are growing fast. The offspring needs care. For them, one should look for food and drink, it is necessary to teach the young to get food on their own, to hide from enemies. The right to care for offspring must also be earned. Individuals arrange fights. Both females and males participate. The winner gets the care of the offspring as a reward.

A year later, the young leaves the family, meets new friends. In one livestock of young animals, there may be individuals of different ages. Birds easily get used to each other, and it is difficult to part with the herd.

Economic use

Ostriches are increasingly being bred on private farms. Everything is valuable for them, and meat, and eggs, and a feather. Meat belongs to dietary products. In terms of protein content, it is ahead of turkey meat. At the same time, it contains little cholesterol. The product is recommended for baby food. The color of the meat resembles beef, but it is more loose and juicy. It has a feature. The longer it is subjected to heat treatment, the harder it becomes. The meat is rich in manganese, iron, B vitamins, and contains nicotinic acid. To obtain meat, young animals at the age of 1.5 years are used.

Fat has healing properties. It contributes to the rapid healing of wounds, the production of collagen and elastin. Raw materials increase the level of prostaglandin hormones. Fat is used for the production of medicines, creams, emulsions. Raw materials are widely used in cosmetology.

For a year, the female brings 80 eggs. Farmers use them in different ways. Both whole and empty eggs are allowed to be sold. Whole eggs of the table category cost 1 thousand rubles each. a piece. Empty eggs are sold to artists. The shell is strong, after appropriate processing it looks like porcelain. The shell is painted and sold as a souvenir. An empty egg costs about 500 rubles. Entrepreneurs claim that the ostrich egg business is very profitable.

African ostrich(lat. Struthio camelus) is a keelless flightless bird, the only representative of the ostrich family (Struthinodae).

Its scientific name in Greek means " camel sparrow».

The ostrich is the only modern bird that has a bladder.

general characteristics

The African ostrich is the largest bird of modern birds, its height reaches 270 cm; it weighs up to 175 kg. "Very important bird" - the ostrich has a dense physique, a long neck and a small flattened head. The beak is straight, flat, with a horny "claw" on the mandible, rather soft. The eyes are large - the largest among land animals, with thick eyelashes on the upper eyelid. The mouth opening reaches the eyes.

Ostriches are flightless birds. They are characterized by a complete absence and underdeveloped pectoral muscles; the skeleton is not pneumatic, except for the femurs. The wings of ostriches are underdeveloped; two fingers on them end in claws, or spurs. The hind limbs are long and strong, with only two fingers. One of the fingers ends with a semblance of a horn - the bird leans on it when running. An ostrich can reach speeds of up to 60–70 km/h when running.

The plumage of an ostrich is loose and curly. Feathers grow more or less evenly throughout the body, so that pterylia are absent. The structure of the feather is primitive: the barbs are almost not linked to each other, so the feather does not form dense blades-fans. The head, neck and hips are not feathered. There is also a bare patch of skin on the chest, a pectoral callus, on which the ostrich rests when it lies down. The plumage color of an adult male is black, and the feathers of the tail and wings are white. The female ostrich is smaller than the male and is uniformly colored - in grayish-brown tones; wing and tail feathers are off-white.

The ostrich forms several subspecies that differ in size, skin color on the neck, some features of biology - the number of eggs in the clutch, the presence of litter in the nest, the structure of the egg shell.

Distribution and subspecies

The ostrich habitat covers the dry, treeless expanses of Africa and the Middle East, including Iraq (Mesopotamia), Iran (Persia) and Arabia. However, due to intensive hunting, their population has been greatly reduced. Near Eastern subspecies, S. c. syriacus, has been considered since 1966. Even earlier, in the Pleistocene and Pliocene, various types of ostriches were distributed in Western Asia, in the south of Eastern Europe, in Central Asia and in India.

There are two basic types of African ostrich: East African ostriches with red necks and legs, and two subspecies with bluish-grey necks and legs. Subspecies S. c. molybdophanes, found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya and Somalia, is sometimes isolated as a separate species - the Somali ostrich. Another subspecies of gray-necked ostriches (S. c. australis) lives in southwestern Africa, where its range is extremely mosaic. In subspecies S. c. massaicus, or Masai ostriches, during the mating season, the neck and legs are painted bright red. Another subspecies is distinguished - S. c. camelus in North Africa. Its natural range extends from Ethiopia and Kenya to Senegal, and in the north to eastern Mauritania and southern Morocco.

Red-necked ostriches, found in southern Africa, for example, in the Kruger National Park (South Africa), are imported individuals.

Lifestyle and nutrition

The ostrich lives in open savannas and semi-deserts, north and south of the equatorial forest zone. Outside of the mating season, ostriches are usually kept in small flocks or families. The family consists of an adult male, four or five females and chicks. Often, ostriches graze along with herds of zebras and antelopes, and together with them make long migrations across the African plains. Due to their height and excellent eyesight, ostriches are the first to notice danger. In case of danger, they rush to flight, developing a speed of up to 60-70 km / h and making steps 3.5-4 m wide, and if necessary, abruptly change the direction of the run without slowing down. Young ostriches already at the age of one month can run at speeds up to 50 km / h.

The usual food of ostriches is plants - shoots, flowers, seeds, fruits, but on occasion they also eat small animals - insects (locusts), reptiles, rodents and the remains of predators' meals. In captivity, an ostrich needs about 3.5 kg of food per day. Because the ostriches don't have teeth, to grind food in the stomach, they swallow small pebbles, and often everything they come across: nails, pieces of wood, iron, plastic, etc. Ostriches can go without water for a long time, getting moisture from the plants they eat, however, on occasion willingly drink and love to swim.

Ostrich eggs left unattended by adult birds often become the prey of predators (jackals, hyenas), as well as carrion birds. Vultures, for example, take a stone in their beak and throw it at the egg until it breaks. Sometimes the chicks are caught by lions. However, adult ostriches are dangerous even for large predators - one blow of their strong leg, armed with a hard claw, is enough to seriously injure or kill a lion. There are cases when males, defending their territory, attacked people.

The legend that a frightened ostrich hides its head in the sand probably comes from the fact that a female ostrich sitting on a nest, in case of danger, spreads her neck and head on the ground, trying to become invisible against the background of the surrounding savannah. Ostriches do the same when they see predators. If you approach such a hidden bird, it instantly jumps up and runs away.

Ostrich on the farm

The beautiful flight and tail feathers of ostriches have long been in demand - they were used to make fans, fans and plumes of headdresses. The strong shell of ostrich eggs was used by African tribes as vessels for water, and in Europe beautiful goblets were made from these eggs.

Because of the feathers that went to decorate ladies' hats and on fans, ostriches were almost exterminated in the 18th and early 19th centuries. If in the middle of the XIX century. ostriches were not farmed, they would probably have been completely exterminated by now, as the Middle Eastern subspecies of the ostrich was exterminated. Now ostriches are bred in more than 50 countries around the world (including countries with a cold climate, such as Sweden), but most of their farms are still concentrated in South Africa.

Currently, ostriches are bred mainly for expensive skin and meat. Ostrich meat resembles lean beef - it is lean and contains little cholesterol. Additional products are eggs and feathers.

Most of the coats of arms of Poland have ostrich feathers in the crest. The coat of arms of Australia is a shield supported by a kangaroo and an emu - animals that live only in this country.

reproduction

The ostrich is a polygamous bird. Most often, ostriches can be found in groups of 3-5 birds - one male and several females. Only during non-breeding time, ostriches sometimes gather in flocks of up to 20-30 birds, and immature birds in southern Africa - up to 50-100 individuals. During the mating season, male ostriches occupy an area from 2 to 15 km 2, driving away competitors.

When it's time for breeding, male ostriches lek in a peculiar way, attracting females. The male kneels down, rhythmically beats his wings, throws his head back and rubs the back of his head against his own back. The neck and legs of the male during this period acquire a bright color. Competing for females, males emit hissing and other sounds. They can trumpet: for this they gain a full goiter of air and forcefully push it through the esophagus - at the same time, a semblance of a deaf roar is heard.

The dominant male covers all the females in the harem, but forms a pair only with the dominant female and hatches the chicks with her. All females lay their eggs in a common nesting hole, which the male scrapes out in the ground or in the sand. Its depth is only 30-60 cm. Ostrich eggs are the largest in the bird world, although they are small relative to the size of the bird itself: egg length - 15-21 cm,weight - from 1.5 to 2 kg(this is about 25-36 chicken eggs). The shell of ostrich eggs is very thick - 0.6 cm, its color is usually straw yellow, rarely darker or white. In North Africa, the total clutch usually consists of 15-20 eggs, in the south of the mainland - from 30, in East Africa the number of eggs reaches 50-60. Females lay eggs apparently once every 2 days.

Eggs are incubated during the day by females (because of their protective coloration, merging with the landscape), at night - by the male. Often during the day, eggs are left unattended and heated by the rays of the sun. Incubation lasts 35-45 days. However, often many eggs, and sometimes all, die due to under-incubation. A chick cracks a strong shell of an ostrich egg for about an hour, sometimes more. An ostrich egg is 24 times larger than a chicken egg.

A newly hatched ostrich weighs approx. 1.2 kg, and by four months reaches 18-19 kg. The chicks leave the nest the day after hatching and travel with their father in search of food. During the first 2 months of life, the chicks are covered with brownish hard bristles, then they dress in an outfit similar in color to that of the female. Real feathers appear in the second month, and black feathers in males - only in the second year of life. capable of reproduction ostriches become at 2-4 years. Ostriches live up to 30-40 years.

The African ostrich is considered the largest representative of the species, since its height reaches 2.7 m. It lives in Africa, from which its name originated. It is very similar to the American ostrich, as it has a fairly lush plumage. The main difference is in the rich black feathers of males throughout the year.

African ostriches are the largest birds in the world. They avoid tropical rainforests, preferring grasslands and deserts where they feel safe. Often they live in joint herds with other representatives of the continent: zebras or antelopes. They warn their neighbors in time of impending danger.

They have excellent eyesight and hearing, so they detect the enemy in advance and hide in time. Able to reach speeds up to 70 km / h.

Surprisingly, they do not slow down even when cornering. The step length is 4 m.

The biological name in translation means "camel sparrow". This is due to weak wings, like sparrows, pectoral callus and weight, like camels. Body weight is 60-70 kg.

Appearance:

• Large eyes, near which the mouth line ends;
• The upper eyelid, completely dotted with thick long eyelashes;
• Small head;
• Smooth, flat and wide beak with a soft outgrowth of horn cells at the end;
• Weakly developed chest;
• The presence of a thoracic callus for a convenient location on the ground;
• Long muscular legs, each with 2 toes. Only one completely keratinized, resembling a hoof, serves as a support while running;
• The head, neck and legs are covered with soft short fluff;
• Curly, but loose and uniform plumage.

The male black African ostrich is completely black. Only the tail and wings are painted white. The plumage of females is gray-brown with off-white tail and wings. They also have a longer neck.

Live 60-70 years. Females are productive for 30 years, males - 40 years. They live in small polygamous groups, consisting of 1 male and 7-10 females. Feathers are smart, inquisitive and obedient. They easily adapt to new conditions and make contact with a person. In anger or anticipation of trouble, they become very aggressive and dangerous.

A blow from a strong paw can kill a lion.

They are able to run several kilometers without stopping. They sleep very little, waking up often. One feathered bird always guards the flock and wakes it up in case of danger. They love to take sand baths.

It is believed that there are three varieties of ostriches in Africa: with blue, pink and black necks. The last variety is the most common.

Breeding

During the breeding season, the male captures the territory for 15 km around, behaves aggressively. The female is lured by loud cries and hissing, similar to a growl, and a dance. During it, he kneels, straightens his feathers and rubs the back of his head against his back.

After mating, the male makes a nest 60 cm deep in the sand, in which all females lay their eggs once every 2 days. The dominant female is incubating.

Interestingly, she always puts her eggs in the middle so that they are as warm as possible.

The shell is light yellow. It can be smooth and glossy or matte and porous.

At home, the chick is sexually mature when it reaches two years, in the wild - 4 years. In the natural environment, females give 5-18 eggs, domesticated birds - 50-110 eggs. The weight of one is approximately 1500-1900 g. The incubation period for breeding lasts 43-45 days, depending on size.

The female incubates during the day, as she blends into her environment with her plumage. The male occupies the nest at night. During the day, parents often leave the clutch unattended, which is why it becomes the prey of predators. It is preyed upon by hyenas, scavengers and jackals.

Chicks are born by making several holes in the shell, which they pierce with the back of the head. Because of this, babies appear with rapidly healing hematomas. From birth, they have good eyesight and hearing, they can move around. Already on the second day of life, they go hunting with the head of the family.

Unviable ostrich eggs are broken by them, and many flies flock to them, which feed on newborns.

During the first weeks of life, the body of the chicks is covered with black and yellow bristles with longitudinal stripes. They acquire adult color only in the second year of life. It is interesting that from childhood they make friends with kids from different packs.

Once making friends, the chicks converge for life, which is why flocks of different ages are often found.

Adult offspring often become the prey of hyenas, leopards, cheetahs and lions.

An angry ostrich runs very fast and attacks zealously. Even large animals are afraid of him. If necessary, the bird pretends to be injured to divert attention from the chicks, and then escapes.

If the chicks get wet, they are dried, otherwise they may get sick and die.

If the offspring is grown separately from the parents, it needs regular walking. From the age of 3 days, he is taken out for short walks so that the kids strengthen their legs and joints. Food is placed at different ends of the room so that they move more. They are kept in groups of 40 individuals. From 6 months on one bird should have at least 10 m 2 of space.

An adult is required from 10 m 2. The fence should be from 2 m, otherwise the birds will easily jump over it.

Dark red ostrich meat, reminiscent of veal in taste, is useful because of the minimum cholesterol content. It cooks quickly and is valued for its high content of phosphorus, iron, manganese, nicotinic acid and B vitamins.

Food

At home, newborn chicks are not fed for the first week so that their body fully absorbs the yolk and muscle moisture. The first month, food is scattered on the floor, and only then the feeders are used.

They are predisposed to fullness, so you need to strictly control the amount of food.

In the wild, ostriches feed on parental manure. This stimulates the processing of vegetable fiber in the intestines and the immune system.

Adults are omnivores. They consume shrubs, tree shoots, small reptiles and insects. They have no teeth, food is ground in the stomach, which is why birds often swallow gravel, pebbles or sand.

They are very fond of water, but are able to live for a long time without it, getting moisture from plants.

The best food for an African ostrich in summer is crushed alfalfa, which contains a large amount of protein. In winter, birds are given hay and compound feed at the rate of 1.5 kg of the mixture per individual.

For intensive weight gain, birds are given vitamin and mineral complexes.

Contrary to popular belief, the African black ostrich does not hide its head in the sand when threatened. In stressful situations, he either attacks or runs away. An erroneous opinion appeared due to the fact that birds tilt their heads low to swallow the sand necessary for normal digestion.

It's interesting that:

• Feathers are used to make jewelry, fans and fans;
• If active breeding of ostriches on farms had not begun in the 19th century, the population would have died out;
• Bird feathers are not plucked, but carefully cut off at the root twice a year;
• The African ostrich is the only bird that has a bladder;
• The shell is so strong that souvenirs, vases are made from it.

The African ostrich is an unpretentious and sociable creature that easily makes contact with a person. It gladly trusts the one who constantly feeds and waters it. The bird is not aggressive towards other animals and its relatives, but always protects its flock to the last. Growing on farms does not require special knowledge or effort. The main thing is to provide freedom of movement and complex feed.

OSTRICH

Ostriches are the largest birds on earth.
They are taller than humans. The average ostrich is 2.5 meters tall and weighs 120 kg - isn't it a giant?!

It's interesting that male ostriches are called roosters, and females are called hens.

Most ostriches live in Central Africa.
There are several types of these birds. But all ostriches are united by one feature - these birds cannot fly.

Ostriches run so fast that no world champion in running can catch up with this bird. An ostrich can run at a speed of 70 kilometers per hour!

An ostrich has only two toes on its feet. One of the fingers is much larger than the other, so the ostrich essentially runs on only one thumb. Ostriches are the only two-toed birds.

In addition to the way to escape from the enemy by flight, the ostrich can defend itself from it without leaving the place. In this, again, his powerful legs help him, with which he knows how to skillfully kick the enemy, as if he had been trained in a karate school. With a precise forward kick, an ostrich can break a log!

Ostrich eggs are the largest in nature. One ostrich egg is equal to 25 chicken. Each ostrich egg weighs from one to two kilograms, so one egg is enough for an omelet for a large company. It takes two hours to boil an egg.

Ostrich, goose and chicken eggs.

Hatched chicks are completely defenseless, they can be eaten by any predator. But ostriches know how to be cunning. At the slightest danger, in order to save their lives, they fall and freeze without moving. Predators think that the ostriches are dead and do not touch them.

All the stories about the ostrich burying its head in the sand are nothing but an ordinary joke.

The ostrich has good camouflage. The head is the same color as the dusty ground, and the body is dark, so that predators mistake it for a bush. When an ostrich lies with its head and neck stretched out, or bends its head to nibble grass, it can easily appear to the observer as if the ostrich has stuck its head underground, although young birds, if frightened, stretch their neck out and lay their heads on the sand. Then it seems that they hide it in the sand.

By the way, ostriches are so well protected from predators that they live up to 70 years!

Ice is the biggest danger for Russian ostriches.

The legs of ostriches, adapted for fast running and powerful kicks, walk wonderfully in snow of any depth, but are completely unsuitable for walking on ice. Having slipped, the ostrich can break its leg, the thin tubular bone of which will not grow together and the bird will have to be slaughtered. It is useless to treat broken legs in an ostrich.

Therefore, in spring and during icy conditions, the pens are carefully cleared of ice and sprinkled with sand. After all, at high speed and lack of brakes, ostriches can have broken legs, necks, wings and other limbs!

And the ostrich has a habit of sticking its head into all suitable and completely inappropriate holes. When an ostrich sticks its head into a small hole, for example, in a gate, fence or feeder, it immediately forgets how it did it and tries not to pull out its head, but to raise it. Trying to lift his neck and head at the same time, he feels something holding them down and starts twitching, injuring himself. If the head gets stuck, the ostrich will pull it, and the bird may be injured and even die! This feature is taken into account when building fences, installing feeders and other equipment in ostrich pens.

The African ostrich is a very large and interesting bird, like penguins it does not fly, but it runs amazingly.

The African ostrich is perfectly adapted to life in the semi-deserts of Africa.

Body length 2.5m, weight 135kg. They are very fast, have long and strong legs, and thanks to this, they develop tremendous speeds of up to 70 kilometers per hour.

The step of the bird is about 3.5 m. There are two fingers on the legs, in appearance, they are somewhat reminiscent of a hoof. By the way, it is with his feet that he defends himself if he cannot escape from the attacker. In the same way, he protects his chicks.

Short wings are poorly developed, because of this the bird does not fly. Feathers evenly cover his entire powerful body.

In the neck area, small feathers are very rare, and therefore it looks bald. On the neck is a "breast callus". This is the name of the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe body on which he leans when he lies.

Ostriches photo

They eat mainly plant foods, love grass, leaves and a variety of fruits. The digestive system does a great job with such rough food. The esophagus of birds can be very stretched. They are very sociable, love to graze in herds. Often the number of the herd reaches fifty individuals.

During the mating season, the male aggressively and defiantly defends his territory. It puffs out its bright neck and screams loudly. A dance is dancing in front of the female: in turn, it flaps one or the other wing, then spreads the feathers of the wings. Then, bending down to the ground, it rakes out a small hole with its wing, as if it were making a nest. He softly chants a song to her, and she walks in front of him. When the couple is reunited, the male builds a nest.

Ostrich and ostriches photo

The female will lay 8-12 eggs. The most interesting thing is that other females can also lay eggs in the same nest. Sometimes in such a clutch up to 40 eggs are recruited. The female incubates the eggs during the day, the male at night. Egg length 15cm, width 13cm, weight about 1.3kg.

Born chicks, after two months of incubation, are feathered variegated. This is great camouflage. They run on their own and can forage for themselves from birth. Parents protect their chicks.

The meat of the bird is very tasty, and various decorations are made from their feathers. Today, the African ostrich is a tidbit for hunters of all stripes. Often these birds are bred on farms, they are easy to train.