Ostrich- The largest living bird.

Measuring between two to three metres high from the tip of its two toed claw to the crest of its bald head the ostrich is not the ridiculous bird that the myth make it to be. Indeed it has adapted so well to its environment and the potential dangers that it faces.

The largest living bird cannot fly, but they are endowed with phenomenal turn of speed that is 60 kilometers an hour in strides of four metres- enough to leave all but the swiftest of hunters behind. They can maintain at 50 kilometers an hour for up to 30 minutes. However they will often vanish abruptly from view, this sleight of feathers is cunning deception. The ostriches stop in full stride and drop suddenly into a squatting position, extending their necks along the ground, a practice that give rise to the legend that they bury their head in the sand.

In full stride they can bound up to a height of 1.5 metre and their lethal kick can bend an iron bar at right angles. Females are shabby brown with pale endings to their feathers; males are much more dandy with vivid black and white plumes on the wings and tail.

Millions of years ago there were nine species of ostrich but today only the African ostrich survives characterized by its height, half of which is made up of its neck and its two toed legs and thighs.

The mating ritual is colourful and boisterous, Females utter a deep booming call and the males roar like lions, swell their neck like balloons and chase around each trying to outshine the other. The prize of the successful male is a harem of three to five hens which are feed by both the male and the female.

An ostrich egg is as thick as a china cup and needs to be cracked open with a screw, saw or a hammer. One ostrich egg is equal to two dozens or three dozens of the domestic chicken eggs and tastes totally the same. Kept in the refrigerator they can stay fresh for up to a year.

Eggs hatch after about six weeks incubation and the chicks can run almost as soon as they are hatched. Chicks grow like weeds, six to nine centimeters a week and can run at speeds of 50 kilometers an hour. Ostriches have very tough gullets since they are believed to swallow iron or even steel objects, although if raised from young they make very faithful pets.

The last ostrich in the Arab world was shot in the year 1933 and the last one in Asia was seen in the year 1941. In Australia a few can be found in the wild after they were breed in captivity and later released in the wild. In Kenya, East Africa they are in plentiful in all national parks countrywide.

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