The Ostrich

The Ostrich

When thinking about birds, you normally think small feathered friends living in the trees... the ostrich on the other hand completely defies this stereotype.

Ostriches have truly always fascinated me, they are the largest and heaviest birds - and hence cannot fly - so calling them birds feels odd. An adult ostrich can weigh anywhere between 63 and 145 kilograms, how nuts? They may not be able to fly but they can run up to 70km an hour which makes them the fastest birds on land!

At one of our bnb stays on our honeymoon there were a couple ostriches roaming around, they are such peculiar looking birds as well. The way their knees bend looks so uncomfortable and weird.

When I was younger we went on a road trip and stopped over at an ostrich farm where you could stand on an ostrich egg. The shell is so unbelievably thick and strong that a grown man can stand on it without the egg breaking. Their eggs are often used as decorative containers or vases.

Also see that tiny head? Did you know that the ostrich eye is bigger than their brain?!

A fun fact about the misconception that ostriches bury their head in the sand in the face of danger is that the saying may have come from the fact that ostriches keep their eggs in a hole in the sand while being incubated and when rotating the eggs it looks like the bird has buried his head in a hole...

I had a grand time photographing and learning about these cool creatures, even though they do sort of freak me out a bit.

Ostriches are such a great example of the diversity we have on earth, even amongst the birds!

All photographs are copyrighted to the author AJ Champz

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