1
Looking Good Looking at the ostrich, what do you see? Look at the eyes, feet, color and more! The male ostrich is usually black on the body, and a hint of white on the tail feathers and on their wings. The female is brown on the body and like the male it’s white on the tails and wings. The color of the chicks,(the baby ostrich) are bright colored, because then they blend in with the dusty ground. Their colors are bright brown with dark brown dots all over their body. Like some animals they clean their feathers by pulling them through their beaks and getting off dirt or anything that’s in their feathers. The ostrich does camouflage by sitting down and stretching their long necks on the ground. Ta da they blend in with the ground! The adult male can weigh up to 300 pounds! Now that’s a big ostrich! The male can be nine feet in height. It can run up to 45 miles per hour and hold that speed
for half an hour (now that’s a fast bird!). It can step up to 10-16 feet. A lot of people think that their legs are really skinny, but if you look at them closely their legs are big and powerful. Even though they don’t have teeth, they still do bite. Their eyes are like big tennis balls, and their eyes are the biggest of any land animal, they’re 2 inches wide! Their necks are 5-6 feet long. Their feathers can reach up to two feet long feet and five inches wide. Its feet are two toed and each toe has a deathly sharp claw. The males make a booming sound to attract a mate, (sometimes it compares to a lion roar).
O-mazing Ostriches By Kendall
OS
TRIC
HMONTH
LY J
une,
201
0
A female and male ostrich and a chick.
2
Fun Facts
Finally, it’s the last one! Read this paragraph to learn fun and interesting facts. The ostrich has really beautiful feathers, and some of best leather in the world! They re-grow lost feathers. Another name for an ostrich is struthio camelus. The ostrich is part of the “Ratite” family. When it’s hot chicks gather under their parents body like an umbrella.
Living Dry
Walking into the dry savannas, you’ll find an ostrich running. Maybe, or find a ostrich nest, maybe just maybe… The ostrich lives in dry places, like savannas and it lives in the north, east and southern part of Africa. You’ll mostly find ostriches in hot\ dry places (like deserts). They get along well with zebras and giraffes. They live in groups that have less than 12 birds a group. They stretch their necks on the ground when they sleep.
Yummy Meals
Oh, look! You just found a small bug. Snatch! Great, the ostrich ate it! The ostrich eats plants, insects, fruit, seeds, nuts and small animals. They eat like chickens, they peck their beaks to the ground. Like other animals it drinks water, but not much because it gets most of its water from the plants it eats. It sometimes swallows rocks to get food down its throat. It’s an omnivore, that means that it eats
both meat and plants. Food is easy to find in the rainy season.
Predators
Looking out for predators. What do you do? Kick, run, camouflage! The ostrich predators are lions and hyenas. The eggs’ predators are jackals, hyenas, lions, cheetahs, hawks and eagles. The adult ostrich calls booming noises to warn chicks that danger is coming so then they hide or the just freeze where they are. It can defend itself by running away or uses its sharp claw or it can lay down its neck on the ground so it blends in with the ground. It isn’t really a predator to any animals, unless you’re a small lizard. It’s a myth that it sticks its head in sand if danger is coming.
OS
TRIC
HMONTH
LY M
ay, 2
010
An ostrich in its habitat.
Chicks hatching.
Amazing Life
The ostrich has the biggest egg on earth! Read on if you want to read about its life. It lays up to 5-20 eggs at a time and will keep laying eggs about 25 years. Their eggs can weigh 3 pounds. It can lay 40-100 eggs a year! The eggs hatch in the rainy season. The female sits on the eggs at daytime, and the male sits on the eggs at night. The chicks grow quickly as they absorb yolk. The chicks stay with their parents 6 months. The male leads the group and they’re called “alpha”. It can live up to 40 years. The “alpha” male mates with the dominant hen ( the lead female). The male has 3-5 mates. The males are called roosters and females are called hens ( like chickens). To mate, the male calls a booming sound to attract the female’s attention. Then the male puffs out its wings and flaps them and chases the female, and the female allows the male to mate with her. They aren’t endangered, there are at least 2 million world wide. It’s been on earth 120 million years!
Bibliography
Ostriches and other flightless birds Arnold, Caroline Minneapolis, Minnesota © 1990
Nature’s children ostrichesSwitzer, MerebethDanbury, Connecticut© 1990
Ostrich egg information www.ostricheggsndmore.com4-22-10
Green Nature www.greennature.com 4-25-10
National Geographic www.animals.nationalgeographic.com4-19-10
Enchanted Learning www.enchantedlearnig.com4-25-10
How Stuff Workswww.animals.howstuffworks.com4-20-10
Animal Planet www.animal.discovery.com4-22-10
