Ostriches | Struthionidae

Struisvogels | Avestruces

The only bird with two toes: the inner one carries a broad, hoof-like nail and takes almost the entire weight, the outer is small and nailless. Neck and thighs are unfeathered, the eyes are the largest of any land animal and sit on a head held above the grass; the adult male is black with white flight and tail feathers, the female and immatures grey-brown. Laying is communal: in a scraped hollow the major hen keeps her own eggs at the centre and pushes those of the minor hens to the rim, where they seldom hatch; she incubates by day, the black male by night. The male's call is a deep, far-carrying three-syllable booming, delivered with the neck inflated and at a distance hard to tell from a lion. The food is grass, seed, leaves, flowers and succulents, with large quantities of grit; most of the water comes from the green matter itself, so the birds can live far from any drinking place.