There are two living species of ostrich: the common ostrich (Struthio camelus) and the Somali ostrich (Struthio molybdophanes).
Size and Weight:
The ostrich is the largest and heaviest bird alive.
The ostrich is the largest and heaviest bird alive.
Males are generally larger than females, weighing 220 to 287 pounds and measuring 6.9 to 9 feet tall.
Meanwhile, females weigh 198 to 242 pounds and range in height from 5.7 to 6.2 feet.
Ostriches are the largest and heaviest birds in the world.
Because of their weight, they do not fly and cannot fly in the sky.
Instead, ostriches are excellent runners and can reach speeds of up to 43 miles per hour.
A step can be 10 to 16 feet long.
They have long, strong legs with two clawed toes, which allow them to reach this high speed.
The ostrich has a long neck, prominent eyes and stunning eyelashes.
Ostriches have the largest eyes of any land animal.
An ostrich’s eye is about 2 inches in diameter.
Their long necks and excellent eyesight help them see long distances, allowing them to keep an eye on predators.
Ostriches have distinctive feathers that are loose, soft, and smooth, giving them a “shaggy” appearance.
Adult male ostriches are black with white wings and tail feathers, while immature birds and adult females have brownish gray feathers.
Ostriches are omnivores.
Their diet varies depending on the food available in their habitat.
Ostriches also swallow sand, pebbles, and small stones that help grind food in the gizzard.
Because they eat a lot of plants, ostriches don’t need to drink water.
Ostrich habitats include savannas and desert regions.
Ostriches are native to Africa.
Ostrich courtship is ritualistic and synchronized.
A male uses his black-and-white colors to attract a female.
He would sink to the ground like a bow and then wave and shake the feathers of first one wing and then the other as his tail bobbed up and down.
After this movement, he gets up and moves towards the female, raising his wings and stamping as he admires her.
The dominant hen mates with the territorial male, and they share in the tasks of incubating the eggs and caring for the chicks.
The territorial male is polygamous and may mate with other females.
Other females may also mate with wandering males.
The other females then lay eggs in the same nest as the dominant chicken’s eggs.
The nest is a shallow depression scratched in the male’s feces.
The dominant hen ensures that her eggs are closest to the center, and therefore most likely to hatch successfully.
A communal nest allows more eggs to hatch successfully overall for the flock.
The female ostrich lays 7 to 10 eggs at a time.
Ostrich eggs are the largest eggs, weighing about 3 pounds, measuring 6 inches long and measuring 5 inches wide.
Only dinosaurs produced larger eggs.
When hatched, the chicks are about the size of barnyard chickens, but they grow at a rate of 1 foot per month.
The chicks will begin to leave the nest with their parents a few days after hatching.
By four months, they begin to show their adult feathers and by six months, they are about the size of their parents.
Ostriches reach sexual maturity around three or four years of age, which is when males grow their black-and-white feathers.
Ostriches live in groups, which helps in defense.
They are usually found in flocks of about 10 birds or a male and female pair but sometimes gather in large flocks of 100 or more.
These groups are hierarchical with a dominant male, a dominant female called the “main hen” and several other females.
The dominant male establishes and defends their territory.
Single males may also come and go during the breeding season.
In the wild, ostriches live 30 to 40 years.
But in captivity, ostriches have been known to live into their 70s.
Ostriches have several natural predators, including cheetahs, lions, leopards, hunting dogs and spotted hyenas.
Other predators, such as vultures and Egyptian jackals, may take ostrich eggs.
When an ostrich feels danger and cannot escape from the threat, it will fall to the ground and keep its head and neck on the ground, thus it is integrated into the ground.
When an adult ostrich is threatened, it attacks with a clawed foot that delivers a kick strong enough to kill a lion.
Humans pose another major threat to ostrich populations and their habitats.
As the human population grows and expands, ostriches lose their habitat.
Ostrich feathers have long been popular in fashion.
In the 18th century, ostrich feathers were very popular in fashion, especially in the hat industry, ostrich populations declined.
Ostrich farming helped the population recover and still continues on a smaller scale.
Ostriches are farmed and hunted for feathers, hides, meat, eggs, and fat.
The common ostrich is listed as “Least Concern” according to the IUCN Red List.
Meanwhile, the Somali ostrich is listed as “Vulnerable.”
Strict protection and farming are needed to preserve the remaining ostrich population.
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 establish safe and self-sustaining populations in that country.
The African Wildlife Foundation is helping to conserve ostrich populations by working with local communities to decide on an appropriate plan to bring tourism to the area.
Sources: the San Diego Zoo and the African Wildlife Foundation.
This article will discuss about the largest birds in the world, both living and extinct.
The word small has been associated with birds for a long time but there are birds that cannot be called small, some of which are large enough to even exceed the size of the world’s largest living human.
Birds are primarily classified as the largest birds based on their length, height, weight and wingspan size.
So when we classify birds as the largest bird in the world or the largest bird in the world it is mainly based on its size and weight.
The Ostrich is the largest bird in the World with a record setting height and weight:
Height — over 9 feet (2.7 meters)
Weight – over 345 lbs.
The Ostrich is a large flightless bird, native to the African continent and easily recognized by the distinctive appearance of its long legs and neck.
It is not only the largest bird in the world but also:
It is not only the largest bird in the world but also:
The fastest bird in the world with a top speed of 60.6 mph (97.5 km/h)
and lays the largest egg in the world weighing 3lbs.
World’s Largest Extinct Bird
The elephant bird, native to Madagascar, has become the world’s largest bird known to man through the fossil record.
It is over 10 feet (3 meters) tall and weighs over 1,120 lbs.
The Giant Moa native to New Zealand is the tallest bird ever at up to 12 feet (3.7 meters) tall and 50% smaller than the elephant bird.
Brontornis native to South America is the largest bird of prey and flightless with a height of about 9 feet 2 inches (2.8 meters) and a weight of about 770 to 880 lbs.
Argentavis magnificens is the largest bird capable of flight with a wingspan of about 28 feet (8.3 meters), a length of over 10 feet (3 meters) and weighing about 175 lbs.
More Ostrich Facts
Ostrich Facts for Kids
Where Ostriches Live
What do Ostriches eat?
List of some of the World’s Largest Birds in different Species
Birds
Weight
Swift and allies
Nightjars and allies
2 feet (60 cm)
Shore Birds (Great Black-backed Gull)
Heron and ally (Andean Condor)
Kingfishers and allies (Southern Ground Hornbill)
Cuckoos and allies (Great Blue Turaco)
Birds of Prey (Eurasian Black Vulture)
Cranes and allies (Great Bustard and Kori Bustard)
Songbirds (Common Raven and Thick-billed Raven)
Cormorants and allies
Woodpecker and ally (Toco Toucan)
4.3 feet (1.35 meters)
4.3 feet (1.35 meters)
4.3 feet (1.35 meters)
4.3 feet (1.35 meters)
4.3 feet (1.35 meters)
4.3 feet (1.35 meters)
4.3 feet (1.35 meters)
4.3 feet (1.35 meters)
4.3 feet (1.35 meters)
4.3 feet (1.35 meters)
4.3 feet (1.35 meters)
4.3 feet (1.35 meters)
4.3 feet (1.35 meters)
4.3 feet (1.35 meters)
4.4 lbs.
4.4 lbs.
4.4 lbs.
4.4 lbs.
4.4 lbs.
4.4 lbs.
4.4 lbs.
4.4 lbs.
4.4 lbs.
4.4 lbs.
4.4 lbs.
4.4 lbs.
4.4 lbs.
4.4 lbs.
4.4 lbs.
4.4 lbs.
4.4 lbs.
4.4 lbs.
When birds are classified as the largest by length, weight, height and wingspan separately, we will have different birds classified as the largest birds in the world by that particular anatomy.
World’s Largest Bird | Videos