The ostrich (Struthio) is a member of the order Struthioniformes. It is the largest bird in existence, with the adult male reaching 245 centimetres in height, the neck being almost one meter in length. The special peculiarity of the bird is the reduction of the toes to two, these corresponding to the third and fourth of the typical foot. The foot and tarsus are both stout; the head is small, with large eyes, and a short, broad and depressed beak. The wing and tail feathers are large and soft and have broad, equal vanes, while the long neck is practically naked. The male ostrich is coloured black, with pure white tail and wing plumes, the female is greyish. The wings are rudimentary and incapable of flight but the strong legs enable it to run fast for long distances. In the wild, ostriches consort in parties of five or six individuals, though larger herds are occasionally seen. Ostriches feed on grass, leaves, seeds and fruit mingled with animal matter. Ostriches are polygamous, the male consorting usually with from two to four females. They do not build a proper nest, instead all the females associated with a single male deposit their eggs together in a single shallow excavation constructed in the sand, dug by the male.
Ostriches have long been hunted for their feathers, with a devastating reduction in their numbers which led in 1865 to the first ostrich farm being establish in the Cape Colony to produce feathers for commerce. Today ostrich meat is eaten, and ostrich farms are appearing in Britain and elsewhere also. Research Ostrich More pictures of Ostrich
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Research Ostrich
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