OSTRICHES

They are the largest flightless birds living on Earth today. They can be up to 9 feet tall and weight up to 300 pounds. They have the fastest land speed of any bird. They can run steadily up to 34 mph, and can run up to 43 mph, for short durations. They have also the largest eyes of any land vertebrate. They have claws at the end of their wings. For a comparsion of the size of the ostrich egg to that of a modern chicken, see my June 11, 2022 blog. 

Their earliest relatives (referred to as “paleotididae struthioniformes”) were widely distributed, as early as the late Eocene in Asia, Europe, and, to a lesser degree, in North America. The first true ostriches first appeared in Africa during the early Miocene, and, today, wild ostriches are confined to Africa (Mayr et al. 2021). Some escaped ostriches in Australia represent feral populations.

CLASSIFICATION (see Wikipedia, 2024)

Class Aves [=birds)

Order Struthioniformes [=ratites]

Family Struthionidae

Genus Struthio Linneaus, 1758, type species S. camelus Linneaus, 1758

       

Species:

S. camelus camelus = “red-necked,” North African ostrich they  are the most wide ranging ostrich but do not live in the Sahara Desert region).

S. c. australis = “black-necked,” South African ostrich

S. c. massaicus = “pink-necked,” Masai ostrich (central eastern Africa)

S. molybdophanes = “bluish-necked,” southern Ethiopia, NE Kenya, and Somalia

Two individuals of Strutio molybdonphanes (showing color variation) living at the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert, Riverside County, southern California.

References Cited

Mayr, G. and N. Zelenkov. 2021. Exintct crane-like birds (Eogruidae and Ergilornithi) from the Cenozoic of central Asia are indeed ostrich precursors. Orthnithology 138(4):1-15. Pdf is free.

Wikipedia. 2024. Ostriches.