Get Acquainted With Ostriches
- Ostriches are the largest and heaviest birds in the world!
- Although they cannot fly, ostriches sure can run! They are the fastest-running birds, reaching speeds of up to 43 mph (70 km/h)! At this speed, they are the only animals that can outrun leopards!
- Obviously, the amazing speed of the ostrich is helpful in outrunning predators, but the ostrich can also use its powerful legs to kick like a kangaroo. In fact, its kick is strong enough to kill a lion. Ostriches can also defend themselves with a 4-inch claw on each foot.
- Ostrich brains are as big as a walnut and smaller than their eyes. They are not particularly intelligent, but with the largest eyeball of any bird, they can see as far as 2.2 miles (3.5 km).Ostrich meat is red meat, like beef, and is the healthiest meat you can eat while low in fat and cholesterol and high in protein.
- An adult ostrich carries about 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) of stones in its gizzard (second stomach). Yes, stones! Since ostriches do not have teeth, they eat stones which help to grind their food when it reaches the gizzard.
- Ostriches can tolerate temperature differences of 104 F (40 C)! They prosper in climates between 86 F and -22 F (30 C and -30 C).
- Ostriches can live up to the age of 70 years, with 50 being typical.
- The ostrich male roars like a lion!
- When a pair of ostriches bearing the young meets another pair, the parents will fight and the winning pair will be parents of both pairs’ offspring. It has been reported that the biggest group of ostriches contains 300 offspring!
- It has been discovered that the cornea of the ostrich eye can be used to replace the human cornea.
- During the 18th century, the French queen, Marie Antoinette, popularized the fashion of wearing a feather in one’s hat. Women searched for the most beautiful feathers, leading them to the ostrich. Hunting these birds became a large-scale enterprise world-wide. Ostriches were on the verge of extinction, but then a savior came—the automobile. Ostrich feathers flowed beautifully when ladies pranced around on horses. But in the automobile, the feathers became a mess. And so the fashion fell out of use, thus saving the ostrich!