Ostriches do not need to drink - they can make their own water internally and get the rest from vegetation.

Meaning of scientific name
Camel-like.

Subspecies
Four: North African, Somali, Masai, South African.

Life span
40 years.

Statistics
7ft (1.75-2.75m) tall, males up to 150kg, females 90-110kg, Stride length: 3-5m.

Physical description
Ostriches are the largest living birds, and are flightless, two-toed, with long, powerful neck and legs.

Distribution
Originally, the ostrich occurred throughout Africa, except in evergreen forests and moist savannah. Their current distribution is Southern Africa.

Habitat
Mainly open semi-arid savannahs in Southern Africa.

Diet
Omnivorous, but mostly vegetarian. They eat roots, leaves, flowers and seeds of many plants. Most typical items include succulent plants. They may also eat occasional invertebrates and small lizards. Food collects in the crop then slides down the neck in a bolus. The ostrich has intestines 14m long so that it gets the most out of the tough plants it eats. They also swallow stones to help break down food in their gizzard, sometimes even diamonds!

Behaviour
They have a very flexible social system, and sometimes live alone but more often in groups. Ostriches can be very aggressive if threatened. They use their powerful legs and pick-axe claws to kick/slash at attackers. They spend much of the day feeding. Many of their social interactions with each other include short fights - usually settled with hissing and posturing. It is a myth that ostriches bury their heads in the sand.

Reproduction
Ostriches' mating system is flexible and opportunist. In the breeding season, territorial males mate with females, attracting them with a spectacular 'kantling' display, flopping to the ground and rhythmically rocking from side to side, with their neck banging on their back, wings outstretched and making a deep booming call. Then a territorial male will scrape a nest and attempt to coerce a female to lay in it. The first female to lay pairs up with the male to incubate the eggs and raises the chicks. But many females are attracted to the new nest and they all lay eggs in it. The resulting nest is therefore a mixture of genes from the whole neighbourhood, yet only the 'major' pair will raise them. This principal is extended to chick-rearing too, when a pair with young will often kidnap other parents' chicks to form giant ostrich creches of all ages. Only 10 per cent of all eggs laid end up hatching.

Conservation status
Ostriches are not globally threatened. Until last century, the ostrich was common in most of Africa & South-west Asia, but intense persecution by humans as well as habitat destruction from overgrazing has threatened the wild birds. In North and West Africa numbers continue to decline and they are very small populations. These populations are listed in Appendix I of CITES. In South Africa their range reduced to NW of former range, elsewhere only feral birds. They are still common in protected parks of East Africa. Domesticated birds are farmed in large numbers in South Africa and America.

Voice
Ostriches have an extensive repertoire including whistling, snorting, guttural noises and 'booming' calls as well as bill snapping and stomach rumbling! Booming is a wonderfully characteristic call used to proclaim territory and during mating display. It's a deep descending Boo boo... boohoooooo repeated several times.

Notes
They can increase their body temperature by 4.2 degrees on hot days to reduce water loss from perspiration.

Records
They are the largest, heaviest and tallest bird. They have the largest land vertebrate eye (50mm diameter) and are the fastest animal over time - sustaining 50km/hour for 30 minutes and can reach 70km/hour.

History
Ostrich feathers have been used by humans for at least 5000 years and the eggs have been put to many uses. During the eighteenth centurey, ostrich feathers came into fashion and ostriches were hunted almost to extinction. Then it was discovered they could be successfully farmed in 1833. The business thrived until after the First World War when demand dropped and the farms crashed. Today there are still at least 90,000 domesticated ostriches in Oudtshoorn, South Africa - now farmed mainly for meat and hide.

Best place to see
For up close and personal, Oudtshoorn South Africa, ostrich farm capital of the world. In the wild: Etosha National Park, Namibia or Nairobi National Park, Kenya.

Closest relative
Other Ratites: emus (Australia), cassowaries (Australia and New Guinea) and rhea (South America) as well as the kiwi (New Zealand). Also the extinct moa of New Zealand and the elephant birds of North Africa.