Ostrich

The Ostrich The Ostrich is a durable animal. It has been around for a long time and in the past two centuries an entire industry has been based around it. The ostrich has many fascinating physical qualities and behaviors as well as an interesting history. The ostrich is the world’s largest bird. Although the ostrich is a bird, it cannot fly. Instead, the ostrich runs very fast. It has a sustained speed of 50 km/h. It is primarily vegetarians but will eat insects. When the ostrich mates it stays with its partner for life. The incubation of eggs is a shared task in a flock of ostriches. This is because ostriches have communal nests. One nest can have anywhere from 14 to 60 eggs in it. Ostriches can be traced back 40-60 million years ago. However, the time at which they migrated south though Africa was only one million years ago. The ostriches spread all throughout Africa. By the late 1800s hunters had almost wiped out the ostrich population. Then in the 1880’s the industry of farming ostrich became stable. This was a great turning point for the ostrich. The idea of ostrich farming came from Algeria. When ostrich farming started they only harnessed the bird’s feathers. But later on they found that the meat and skin where also valuable. When WWI began the ostrich farming industry declined and didn’t come back until after WWII. But now the Ostrich farms provide jobs, attract tourists, and sell products. The ostrich is not only an interesting animal but also a farming industry. Ostriches attract tourists because they are worth seeing and learning about. The ostrich has been around for millions of years and will be for many more.