Ostrich

HISTORY

Ostrich eggs were much admired by the ancient Persians, who sent them as tributes to the emperors of China.

Diodorus of Sicily, a historian of the first century BC, believed the ostrich was the missing link between birds and camels.

The Romans liked roast ostrich, particularly the wings.

The Roman emperor Heliogabalus (reigned AD218-222) once served 600 ostrich heads at a banquet.

OSTRICH EGG

The ostrich lays the largest eggs of any living bird (extinct elephant birds of Madagascar and the giant moa of New Zealand laid larger eggs).

Ostrich egg By Klaus Rassinger und Gerhard Cammerer, Museum Wiesbaden 

The largest egg is laid by the ostrich, typically 8in tall and weighing 3lb.

It takes four hours to hard boil an ostrich egg: it weighs 30 pounds.

An omelette made from one ostrich egg will feed about eight hungry people.

ANATOMY AND BEHAVIOR

Ostriches are zero-rated for VAT but feathers and other inedible parts are taxed as normal.

The ostrich is the largest living species of bird. Adult male ostriches weigh as much as 345lb (156kg) and can be 9ft tall.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

An ostrich's intestinal track is up to 45 feet long.

The Libyan ostrich and the hornbill are the only birds with eyelashes.

The African ostrich is the only two-toed bird (most other birds have three or four toes.) The adaptation to two toes is a running advantage.

The ostrich is the largest and fastest-running of all birds and can move at speeds up to 45mph. It is also the fastest of all creatures on two legs.

An ostrich could run the London Marathon in 45 minutes.

Ostriches normally spend the winter months in pairs or alone. Only 16 percent of ostrich sightings were of more than two birds.

During breeding season and sometimes during long periods without rain ostriches live in nomadic groups of five to 100 birds.

Ostriches don't bury their heads in sand thinking they have hidden from danger. Instead, they dig holes to bury their eggs and the myth came about from people seeing ostriches putting their heads in the holes to turn the eggs to ensure they are evenly heated.

Source Daily Express