It is omnivorous and forages on a variety of plants and insects, and can go for weeks without eating. It drinks infrequently, but takes in copious amounts of fresh water when the opportunity arises. Standing up to 2 metres tall, adult male emus are Australia’s largest birds. In size, they are second only to ostriches in the world. Their powerful legs give them great speed, some running up to 50 km per hour. At full pace, an emu’s stride can measure up to 3 metres.
FAMILY LIFE
All native birds, bdswiss forex broker review reptiles, amphibians and mammals, but not including dingoes, are protected in New South Wales by the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016. They eat insects when these are available, such as during grasshopper plagues. The troops were recalled within a week, having spent 2,500 rounds to kill 50 to 200 emus.
DISCOVER WILDLIFE
Even on farms, these birds are difficult to care for because you need tall, sturdy fences to contain them. Additionally, they can be quite dangerous, and could potentially harm you if they kick you. Wild emus are now protected in New South Wales by the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.
- They often travel in pairs, but can occassionally group in larger numbers known as a ‘mob’.
- After emus mate, the female lays 5 to 15 dark green eggs in a ground nest.
- The closest relative to the emu is a Cassowary, another flightless bird.
- As the egg laying period approaches, males will lose their appetite and begin to construct a nest using sticks, grass, leaves and bark.
- Though infrequently, they also hunt small animals like lizards, snakes, and mice.
- In 1932, a group of 20,000 emus were searching for water in Western Australia when they came upon the state’s recently expanded wheat farming region.
SIZE
Emus range over large areas, foraging on fruits, seeds, plant shoots, small animals, animal droppings, and insects. They mate and nest over the Australian winter, and it’s not always a loving affair—females have been known to fight viciously over unpaired males. As long-legged, flightless birds, you’d expect emus to be fast.
What do Emus eat and how do they communicate?
- At the end of 15 months, these would yield 4 square metres of leather, 150 kg of meat, 5.5 kg of feathers, and 2.7 litres of oil.
- Emus are full-grown at 12 to 14 months but don’t reach sexual maturity until about 2 years of age.
- She may simply wander off to join a group of non-breeding birds, or she may find another mate and lay again.
Despite this, some local populations are listed as endangered, with all the insular subspecies going extinct by the 1800s. Threats to their survival include egg predation by other animals (especially invasive species), roadkills and habitat fragmentation. The young emus can remain with their father for up to 2 years. Once fully grown, they may stay in the same area or wander widely in search of food, water and a mate. The emu belongs to a group of flightless running birds with flat breastbones known as ratites. The emu’s feathers are very primitive and look like a form of coarse hair.
This was an attempt to eradicate emus using machine guns and grenades. The effort was largely unsuccessful, however, because emus are elusive, difficult to catch and adept at camouflage; it is reported that only 12 emus were killed. Instead, a 1,609-mile-long (1,000-kilometer-long) fence has been built that separates the emus from these cereal-growing areas of the southwest. Several emus were killed, and at the peak of the war, the casualties ammased at a rate of 100 birds per week. This topped out at 986 dead emus, at a rate of ten bullets used per bird.
The emu subspecies that lived in Tasmania became extinct around 1865, following the arrival of Europeans. The Australian mainland subspecies’ distribution continues to be affected by human activities. Once quite common on Australia’s east coast, rapid human population growth forced the emu out of this area. Agricultural development and water provided for livestock in Australia’s Outback have given the emu new regions to live in that were once too dry for its survival. Emus are common throughout most of mainland Australia, although they avoid big cities, dense forests, and deserts.
Emus
Emus do not have the option of flying away if under attack from predators. If attacked from above by other birds such as the wedge-tailed eagle, emus will run in a zigzag pattern. However, at close quarters their main defence is a swift kick or two with their powerful legs. The emu makes a deep-throated ‘drumming’ sound by using its tracheal pouch, which is part of its windpipe.
At least in Britain, the closest most people ever got to an emu was a mischievous toy bird with a man’s hand up it. But there’s so much more to these animals than is commonly known. Emus in human care eat a commercial ratite feed that provides all the nutrients that they need. You can also feed them various fruits and vegetables as treats. Because they usually live in flocks, these birds need to at least live in pairs to meet their social needs.
They are the 5th heaviest bird in the world weighing up to 60kg, behind the two species of ostrich and cassowaries. But the kiwi isn’t their closest relative, perhaps less surprisingly, the emu shares an order with cassowaries, those notoriously dinosaur-like ratites. Ostriches, on the other hand, are far more distantly related to emus, despite being closest in size. The Kiwi of New Zealand (not the fruit) is a strange and charming little flightless bird that doesn’t appear to have an ounce of intimidation in it.
These are accomplished walkers and runners and cover vast distances bipedally. These birds are diurnal, and are typically most active during the day. They forage in small groups, though solitary Emus are not unusual. When food or water is scarce, these birds travel long distances to find sustenance. Humans utilize these birds in various ways, and one of the primary products that Emu farms produce is Emu oil. Historically, Australian aboriginals hunted these birds as a source of food for decades.
At their necks and heads their feathers become sparse and inconsistent, showing greyish-blue skin underneath. The largest of these birds stands over 6 feet tall, and weighs up to 88 pounds or so. The emu (/ˈiːmjuː/; Dromaius novaehollandiae) is a species of flightless bird endemic to Australia, where it is the tallest native bird. It is the only extant member of the genus Dromaius and the third-tallest living bird after its African ratite relatives, the common ostrich and Somali ostrich. The emu’s native ranges cover most of the Australian mainland.