Without exaggeration, this bird can be called a record holder in several categories at once: the largest bird, the bird carrying the largest eggs.
Ostrich Habitat
The habitat of this giant bird is not so great: its largest population is in central Africa.
Somewhat smaller in number is located in the southern part of the mainland. There are also artificially created populations of this bird existing in Australia.
Interesting Facts
- The size of an ostrich egg, or rather, its volume is equal to 25 chicken eggs;
- The ancestors of this bird were once very common around the world, this is evidenced by the found fossilized skeletons of an ancient ostrich in the south of the former Soviet Union. The age of such a fossilized skeleton is approximately 7.5 million years;
- Another amazing feature of this bird is the ingestion of even the most non-edible objects, in a word, an ostrich can eat anyone for an object of interest to him, from a pencil to an ordinary pebble. That is what representatives living in zoos often sin;
- The shell of an ostrich egg is so strong and it is so voluminous that some tribes in Africa still use the shell from their eggs as a vessel for water;
Ostrich lifestyle
This bird chose the habitat of dry and arid steppes of the African continent.Ostrich food is mostly young shoots vegetation, sometimes supplementing its diet with insects and small animals (lizards, snakes, rodents). In view of the fact that the ostrich is very large and needs a lot of food, for the most part it is for this reason that ostriches are constantly on the move, mastering more and more new territories, only the nesting period becomes an exception. Ostriches wander not alone, but in groups sometimes reaching 20, or even 30 individuals.
An ostrich is a very careful and attentive bird, staying on the alert at any time of the day and under any circumstances, that's why for other animals living with an ostrich in its neighborhood it is a kind of patrol, able to always warn in a timely manner of danger.
In addition to the fact that these birds migrate in herds in each herd, there are several families where one male and several females dominate. The female lays eggs from one to two in pre-prepared by the male nests (pits dug in the ground). And then only the male is engaged in hatching and raising chicks, he rolls them into one nest collecting everything together and warms his body during the night, in the afternoon they are warmed up by the rays of the sun. After the hatching of the chicks, they gather in herds following their parent and learning the skills of existence in this world.
