The ostrich lives on grassy plains across parts of Africa.
The ostrich belongs to the order Struthionformes, a group of birds that includes other flightless species such as the emu, rhea and cassowary. The ostrich at one time lived in the Middle East and across much of Africa. The geographic range shrunk to the areas south of the Sahara Desert and the grassland portions of Africa's southwest. The ostrich is the tallest, as well as the heaviest, type of bird on earth.
Size
The male ostrich can be as tall as 9 feet, states the San Diego Zoo website, with the average falling between 6.9 feet and 9 feet high. The female is shorter, with a tall one at 6.2 feet. The male ostrich can weigh between 220 and 290 lbs., with the largest females approaching 240 lbs. The females lay an egg that is some 5 inches by 6 inches, with a weight of around 3 lbs.
Food and Water
An ostrich eats whatever it can swallow, with plant matter like seeds, leaves and roots in its diet along with insects and small creatures such as lizards. The ostrich will frequently swallow small stones and pebbles. These wind up in the bird's gizzard, a place in its digestive system that helps to grind up the food before it continues its journey through the intestines. The ostrich obtains most of its water from the plants it eats, but it will not pass up an opportunity to drink from a water hole if the opportunity arises.
Harems
The male ostrich will establish a harem of from two to five females, according to the Woodland Park Zoo webpage, attracting them with a display of his wings. The wings are useful for this purpose and the wings help the ostrich maintain its balance on a full run. Males battle with each other over the hen ostriches. Once a male has his females accumulated, the most dominant female will select a nesting site into which all the females lay their eggs. The head female sits on them during the day, with the male doing the honors during the evening hours, until--after about 40 days--the eggs hatch.
Defenses
Although an ostrich cannot fly away from predators such as lions and hyenas, the bird is not helpless. The ostrich possesses such acute hearing and vision that the Honolulu Zoo website reports other animals around it will rely on the bird as a sort of lookout for danger. The ostrich can run at great speeds, as rapid as 43 miles per hour. The bird can sustain a speed of 31 miles an hour over long distances and a single bound by an ostrich covers as much as 16 feet. When forced to fight, the ostrich employs a 4-inch-long claw on its foot and a kick forceful enough to disable and kill an attacker.
Misconceptions
Stories of the ostrich burying its head in the sand when frightened are untrue; such behavior would quickly result in its death from a hungry predator. This silly misconception perpetuated over time comes from the ostrich seeing a threat and trying to become inconspicuous on the savanna. The ostrich will quickly decide if it can outrun its enemy and if it cannot, it lays on the ground to become less visible. The bird stretches its neck and head out flat, which to an observer from a distance can appear as if the bird has stuck its head into the ground.
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