Ostrich Documentary

In a desert in Namibia, eggs 50 times heavier than those of most egg-laying animals are hatching. The shell is so strong the ostrich mother often helps the chicks out. The biggest advance in parenting here is that both parents look after the eggs. It's a marriage of necessity, one that goes back to food and hungry mothers. Birds need to eat more than cold-blooded reptiles and if the father weren't here, the female would either starve or leave. So the male does the night shift to keep the brood safe from hungry jackals.

To be even safer, ostriches spread the risks. Some of them lay eggs in the dominant pair's nest, almost like cuckoos. The top couple don't object, maybe it helps to have a few spare eggs in case a predator comes, or maybe there are just too many to count. Ostriches are good, intuitive parents, and have no obvious favourites in their mixed brood. The foster-chicks aren't fussy either and will imprint on any adult. The parent birds lift the chicks up with their beaks to encourage them to get up and about, though the rough treatment doesn't look particularly helpful and the chicks totter about like children on stilts.

Whilst the ostriches are devoted to the whole brood, they don't seem to care about specific chicks, even their own. Within hours of the majority of chicks hatching, the family needs to find water and move off in search. It's a death sentence on any chicks still hatching.

Camel Bird

About Ostrich

Ostriches usually weigh from 63 to 145 kilograms (139–320 lb), or as much as two adult humans.[6][8] Ostriches of the East African race (S. c. massaicus) averaged 115 kg (254 lb) in males and 100 kg (220 lb) in females, while the nominate subspecies (S. c. camelus) was found to average 111 kg (245 lb) in unsexed adults. Exceptional male ostriches (in the nominate subspecies) can weigh up to 156.8 kg (346 lb). At sexual maturity (two to four years), male ostriches can be from 2.1 to 2.8 m (6 ft 11 in to 9 ft 2 in) in height, while female ostriches range from 1.7 to 2.0 m (5 ft 7 in to 6 ft 7 in) tall.[6] New chicks are fawn in colour, with dark brown spots.[9] During the first year of life, chicks grow at about 25 cm (9.8 in) per month. At one year of age, ostriches weigh approximately 45 kilograms (99 lb). Their lifespan is up to 40–45 years. The feathers of adult males are mostly black, with white primaries and a white tail. However, the tail of one subspecies is buff. Females and young males are greyish-brown and white. The head and neck of both male and female ostriches is nearly bare, with a thin layer of down.[8][9] The skin of the female's neck and thighs is pinkish gray,[9] while the male's is blue-gray, gray or pink dependent on subspecies

Distribution and habitat of Ostrich

Distribution and habitat

Ostriches formerly occupied Africa north and south of the Sahara, East Africa, Africa south of the rain forest belt, and much of Asia Minor.[6] Today ostriches prefer open land and are native to the savannas and Sahel of Africa, both north and south of the equatorial forest zone.[38] In Southwest Africa they inhabit the semi-desert or true desert. Farmed ostriches in Australia, Israel and New Mexico have established feral populations.[1][39] The Arabian ostriches in the Near and Middle East were hunted to extinction by the middle of the 20th century. Ostriches have occasionally been seen inhabiting islands on the Dahlak Archipelago, in the Red Sea near Eritrea