Here are 30 interesting Ostrich facts.
1-5 Ostrich Facts
1. Contrary to popular belief, there has never been a single recorded event where an Ostrich has buried his head in the ground when threatened. – Source
2. The Ostrich-Egg Globe may be the oldest globe, dated 1504, to depict the New World, engraved with immaculate detail on two conjoined halves of ostrich eggs. – Source
3. Ostriches are the largest and heaviest birds in the world, they can outrun Leopards, their kick is strong enough to kill a Lion, male Ostriches can roar like a lion and they can see as far as 2.2 miles (3.5 km). – Source
4. North Korea once attempted to solve its food shortage problems with Ostriches. Most of which ended up on the plates of the rich and powerful in Pyongyang. – Source
5. Ostriches are the only living birds that pee and poo separately. – Source
6-10 Ostrich Facts
6. Ostriches used to roam Europe, Arabia, and Asia until around 10,000 years ago. The last non-African ostrich subspecies to go extinct was the Arabian ostrich in the mid 20th century. – Source
7. Ostriches can fall in love with humans. – Source
8. Ostriches and Zebras often live together to protect each other from predators. The ostrich can see much better than the zebra, while the zebra can hear or smell danger better than the ostrich. – Source
9. Ostrich eggs are incubated by females during daylight and by males at night since the drab females blend in with the sand, and the black males blend into the darkness at night. – Source
10. North Korea bought into the Ostrich Farming craze of the 1990s and still maintains dozens of large Ostrich farms near Pyongyang. – Source
11-15 Ostrich Facts
11. Although an Ostrich lays the largest egg, it is the smallest egg in relation to the size of the bird. – Source
12. People racing each other on the backs of Ostriches is common in Africa. – Source
13. Ostrich feathers are so efficient at removing dust that BMW uses a giant wheel containing thousands of feathers to dust-off automobile bodies prior to painting. – Source
14. Ostriches stick their heads in the ground to rotate the eggs in their nests. – Source
15. An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain. – Source
16-20 Ostrich Facts
16. It takes 2 hours to hard boil an ostrich egg and is the equivalent of 24 hen eggs in size. – Source
17. In 2008, there was a world record attempt in Iran to make the largest sandwich in the world using over 1,000 kg of ostrich meat. However, the sandwich was devoured by the crowd before judges could verify the record. – Source
18. A Roman historian records Emperor Commodus decapitating an ostrich in the arena with a “specially designed dart”, then carrying the severed ostrich-head to the senators’ booths and gesturing menacingly. Allegedly, the senators struggled to conceal their laughter. – Source
19. Ostrich testicles can be purchased online for human consumption. – Source
20. Ostriches display homosexual behavior. – Source
Just wanted to point out that number 1 and 14 do not logically agree. As a parent protects its eggs it would be entirely logical for an ostrich to seemingly bury its head in the ground to adjust the eggs and possibly cause the sides of the hole to cave in covering them and then naturally removing its head from the ground in order to fight or run. That is where the idea of burying their head when sensing danger comes from and people have unknowingly viewed and documented this behavior