24 Awesome Facts About Ostrich

An ostrich is the world’s largest bird. It is mainly found in the African continent. Ostriches have wings, but they are unable to fly. However, they can run at a greater pace. An ostrich can grow to be up to 9 feet tall. It is tamed for its meat all over the world. Ostriches have exceptional eyesight and hearing ability. They can track their prey from a long distance. So take a look at these 25 interesting facts about this wonderful bird species.

1. An ostrich can reach maximum speeds of up to 70 km/h (43mph). They can cover up to 5 meters of distance in stride.
2. The intestines of an ostrich are twice in length as compare to that of humans. Their intestines are about 46 feet long, whereas humans have 20 feet long.
3. The ostrich is one of the largest omnivore animals in the world. They feed both on green plants as well as other small animals like lizards, snakes, and rodents.
4. Wild ostriches are found in dry, woodland, and hot savannas of Africa. In early times they were also found in the areas of Asia, Africa, and the Arabian peninsula. Still, due to hunting them so aggressively, they are now found in only Sub-Saharan Africa.
5. According to the IUCN( International Union for conservation of nature) red list, most subspecies of ostriches do not fall in the category of endangered, though their population is seen declining.
6. The common ostrich belongs to Struthioniformes’ family, including birds like rheas, emus, cassowaries, moa, and kiwi. There are five subspecies of the flightless ostrich bird.
7. The ostrich falls under the ratite family of birds.
8. They do not stick their heads in the sand when threatened. In actual they don’t bury their heads at all. When threatened, ostriches flops on the ground and act like they are dead.
9. They have three stomachs; this is due to the need to metabolize tough and hard plants that they eat. This type of digestion can’t be achieved by one stomach.
10. The Adult ostriches can eat up to 2.5 kg of food every day.
11. At the age of 1, the ostrich commonly found weights around 45 kilograms (99lb).
12. They are the tallest, largest, and heaviest birds on the planet. Male ostriches can reach up to 9 ft tall(2.8 m) and can weigh an average of 120 kg (254lb). Whereas females are 1.7m- 2m (5.5ft – 6.5ft), a fully grown female can weigh up to 120 kg (264lb).
13. They have the largest eggs among all bird species. On average, they are about 15 cm (5.9 in) long, 13 cm (5.1 in) wide, and can weigh over 1.4 kilograms (3.1 lb).
14. If you want to boil an ostrich egg soft, it requires an hour, and if you need to boil hard, it will take about one and a half-hour.
15. The size of their brains is about 59.26mm.
16. The eyes of ostriches are bigger than their brains and have the biggest eyes in all animal kingdom. They are about 2 inches(5 centimeters) in diameter.
17. The females have an extraordinary ability to recognize their eggs even if they are mixed with females of some other communal nest.
18. Even they can get to know other females eggs; the female ostriches are the only birds that do take care of other female eggs well.
19. When ostriches are full-grown, they have one of the strongest and most advanced immune systems known to humans.
20. The meat of ostrich very much resembles cow’s meat and even cooked in the same way.
21. An ostrich’s powerful and long legs can be very defensive from their natural predators that include cheetahs, leopards, lions, and spotted hyenas.
22. Ostriches have a life span of 40-45 years and can reproduce for 50 years.
23. Ostriches only have two toes, which are shaped like the hoof of an antelope.
24. An ostrich egg can make approximately eleven and a half average size omelets.