The Ostrich

Learn about ostriches.

       When we think of birds, we usually think of wings and flying and often picture the tiny humming bird poised in its backward and forward flight or the mighty eagle swooping down through the clouds. One of the surprises of the animal world is that the largest, most powerful bird in the world today, the ostrich, does not fly. Some of these birds weigh as much as three hundred pounds and stand eight feet tall. But the ostrich has small wings, much too small to be of any use for flight, and so it must outrun its enemies rather than fly from them. Its legs are long and strong, and its kick can be deadly. Some ostriches can run faster than a horse.

       Africa and Arabia are the native homes of the ostrich. Ostriches dig their nests in the sand or earth. The shallow hole may contain from fifteen to twenty eggs. An ostrich egg is about eighteen times as large as a barnyard hen's egg, and each egg weighs about three pounds. Ostrich eggs have a delicious flavor.

       Ostriches are often found in family parties made up of a cock ostrich and five or six hens. The hatching of the young is a family affair, and the parents are very fierce while guarding their eggs. A violent kick of their powerful legs protects the nest if it is attacked.

       The male sits on the eggs at night, perhaps because his plumage is a beautiful, glossy black and white that blends with the coloring of the night. The female sits on the nest during the day, no doubt because her dull, gray-brown feathers blend with the daytime background. She will never leave the eggs to be hatched by the heat of the sun because the sun's strong rays would kill the chick inside. When the young hatch, they are about the size of a full-grown chicken and are all the same gray, mottled color. However, as time passes and the baby ostriches become larger, their colors change to match those of their parents.

       Ostriches are sociable birds. Very often they join company with bands of zebras and antelopes and roam together over the prairies and sandy deserts. This association gives them protection against their enemy, the lion. Ostriches have excellent sight and can see far over the heads of their four-footed companions, while zebras and antelopes have keen scent; so when a lion is scented or seen, all have a better chance of escaping.

       As you know, ostriches do not bury their heads in the sand in times of danger but instead kick or run away. It is when they are feeding on the grasses of the plains that they look as if they are hiding their heads, especially if seen from afar.

       Domesticated ostriches are raised in many parts of the world on ostrich farms. Some of these farms, where ostriches are raised for profit, are in America and Australia. Domesticated ostriches supply most of the plumes that are used to beautify women's wardrobes. Clipping its plumes causes the ostrich no more pain than you feel when you have your hair cut.

       For food, the ostrich eats grass, leaves, berries, and seeds. Small stones are a necessary part of it's diet because they aid in grinding up the food. The ostrich is a curious bird and very easily misled. It will eat almost anything that can be swallowed, large or small, and this peculiar habit causes zookeepers no end of trouble. When you visited the zoo, you may have seen an ostrich just after it had swallowed an apple or some bulky object. The big lump slowly moving down the bird's long neck is a strange sight. Ostriches must think that anything they can swallow is food, for in the zoo many die from eating too many foreign objects like nails or trash. 

• After you read about ostriches above and watch in the wild (link above and video below), see this realistic ostrich nest you can collect for a doll safari here.
• You can also craft an ostrich doll using chenille stems, a paper tube and paper feathers!
• Read a funny ostrich poem by Burges Johnson here!

 Baby ostriches hatching from eggs.