{Note from mods - this thread split from here: Species you hate to see in zoos} I don't really hate seeing any species in a zoo. I love all animals. Except emus. I HAAATTTTEEEE emus.
Emus but not ostriches or rheas? Did you have a traumatic experience with one? On this side of the pond, we're being treated to a very wearing advertising campaign featuring an annoying musical jingle "LIMU Emu.". The poor animal is dressed in a t-shirt and is shown walking into glass-walled buildings.. .
LIMU stands for Liberty Mutual Insurance, and the ad makes you long for pharma ads for new drugs, which I always loathe. Would making him computer-generated lessen the feeling of hate for leiclax20? I'm still curious why only emus and not ostriches, since the latter are larger and quite dangerous. Lol Clearly Thylo has more worthwhile pursuits, like acquiring all of the zoological knowledge he graces us with. Perhaps there's a lesson in that for those of us who know LIMU Emu and not, say, the actual locations of all captive-held emus where we could actually see one in person.
Those are quite odd I'm glad to know that that isn't a real bird, though. My only guess for why Emus in particular get the hate is because they're a lot more bland-looking. Ostriches at least have the black/white feathers plus sometimes neat colorations on the neck in most males. Emus on the other hand are just grey all over. Rheas are, too, yes, but they seem to be a lot less common than Emus, especially outside of AZA zoos. I know here in New England it's not uncommon for farms to have Emus just because. I even know of an ice cream shop that has a couple of Emus in a big pen behind the stand. I also know of a hippy-oriented store somewhere in Rhode Island that an ex of mine liked to shop at and they kept Emus. You don't really see that type of abundance with any other ratites. I don't hate them, but I definitely do find Emus to be the least interesting of them all. I barely pay any attention to them at zoos at this point beyond making note of their existence tbh. ~Thylo
They only got those adverts half right. The behaviour in the first ad of attacking another bird it sees (in a reflection in this case) is accurate - but everyone who has been in close proximity with emus will know that this also includes reflections they can see in glasses on people's face! My Dad (who wears glasses) has been attacked plenty of times by emus - and I've had them attack my camera lens too. So the idea of this emu sitting in a car with a guy wearing sunglasses is very obviously never going to end well They can be quite vicious birds. Interestingly, I grew up in an area in South Australia where there was a sizeable population of feral Ostriches - they were originally farmed for their feathers, but later either escaped or were released. There's several such feral (but self-sustaining) populations around Australia - near Port Augusta north of Adelaide where I grew up; out on the Birdsville track in north-eastern South Australia; and between Barham and Deniliquin in southern-central NSW.
A few still it looks like. Plenty of Ebird reports from late 2018, a few in 2019; a male photo'd by a bird tour barely a month ago in NSW. Someone in Australia can probably give you a more accurate update though.
While I've personally seen the ostriches near Port Augusta - that was a long time ago. I did see them in NSW a few years ago - at the time, I had assumed they were farmed rather than feral. I'll check with my Dad who reported the information to me, about how current those sightings were.
Yes, my Dad was using Ebird - he confirmed recent sightings in NSW and northern SA. The population near Port Augusta is questionable - although it was private property where the birds were originally and so not necessarily easily checked to see if there are any still around. There are isolated sightings of ostriches in areas as far south as Mambray Creek and across the ranges in Wilmington and around the Mt Remarkable area - but it's difficult to know if these are related to the original population or different - or even how reliable the sightings are.
Acording to the 2017 Australian Bird Guide: "Feral populations established in several parts of SA until the 1960s; most now extinct and only 1 small population remains n of Port Augusta. Another small, feral population of doubtful viability ene of Barham, s NSW." That said, the Barham pop. seems to be the most readily-reported. I would guess most other records aside from these two populations represent individual escaped/released birds.
What is the average lifespan of an Ostrich in the wild (in an area with no natural predators) ? (Although I guess they would be at risk from wild dogs too - particularly in the northern parts of Australia?)
I would think up to 40-50 years. I would imagine many young birds would be taken by birds of prey, monitors, and snakes. ~Thylo
I may be a voice in the wilderness, but I've always wanted to see the behavior of emus and ostriches in large groups in the wild. I grew up in the day of single-animal exhibits and always look now to witness their behavior in groups. Even ALS, the Wilds, and SD only have groups of about five, and with their wildly unpredictable behavior, I'd really like to see these birds in even larger groupings. Interestingly--and maybe along the lines of what Thylo reported, the first time I went to the SDSP, there were roadside stores near the park advertising both ostriches and eggs. We were elated and thought that boded well for seeing really big groups in the park! Not only were there only 4 or 5 in the park, by 2015, the roadside store no longer advertised ostriches or eggs, and the park hadn't increased its population at all.
I would agree, nearly all the recent Ebird reports are single birds. Is there any real way to determine whether an Ostrich is feral or escaped? I have seen lifespans of 30-60 years quoted for Ostrich in scientific literature. 50 years seems to be the common upper limit. I've read chick mortality is high, and a rather high percentage don't survive their early life. Once they make it to near adult size they usually live quite a long time so I understand. Many of the large ratites like Emu and cassowaries readily live into their 30's and 40's in captivity as well, and probably similar in the wild. Studies for Emu at least are probably out there.
The Port Augusta population (assuming it is still around) is old enough that all birds alive would be wild-born. The Barham population has certainly bred recently and I would suspect that a large portion of the birds are also wild-born, given it has existed for over 30 years, but there's certainly no guarantee that they all are. I would think most individual birds are escapees - I've heard that the ostrich around the Birdsville Track is a locally well-known individual that has been hanging around there for about seven years.
How old is the Port Augusta population? If ostriches can easily live to 40-50 years old, it's possible the population isn't all wild-born. Same goes for the Barham population if it's only 30 years old. Is there even proof of ostriches breeding in the wild in Australia? ~Thylo
emus are also exceptionally stupid (as in no capacity to learn) maybe not as much as turkeys but they are annoyingly stupid
