Card #041 · Birds
Common ostrich
Struthio camelus
Common LC · Least Concern
Field notes
- Classification
- Order Struthioniformes · Family Struthionidae
- Range
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Size
- 2.1–2.75 m (7–9 ft)
- Weight
- 100–130 kg (220–290 lb)
- Lifespan
- ~40 yrs (wild)
- Diet
- Omnivore
Most Notable
The largest and heaviest bird alive, and the fastest runner on two legs: it sprints over open savanna at more than 70 km/h (43 mph) on legs that can deliver a kick strong enough to kill a lion.
The old story that an ostrich buries its head in the sand is a myth. When danger nears it lies flat with its neck along the ground, resembling a low mound of earth, and if that fails it can outrun almost anything or lash out with a lethal kick.
Its eye is about 5 cm across, roughly the size of a billiard ball and the largest of any land animal, larger even than its own brain.
A single ostrich egg weighs about 1.4 kg (3 lb), the largest egg laid by any living bird, equal to roughly two dozen chicken eggs.
Alone among birds it has just two toes on each foot, an adaptation for speed that helps it run at over 70 km/h (43 mph), faster than any other two-legged animal.
Range: Savanna and Sahel across sub-Saharan Africa.