Kingdom animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class birds
Order Struthioniformes
Family Struthionidae
Gender Struthio
SpeciesStruthio camelus
Ostriches are the largest birds on the planet, measuring about two meters and reaching 150 kilos when adults. Although they do not have the ability to fly, they are very agile in locomotion, reaching 60 kilometers per hour. They are found naturally in African savannas and steppes and in some regions of Arabia.
They are omnivorous animals, with a complex digestive system, including two stomachs. They have only two long toes on each foot, with a toenail on each. The neck is long, the head small and the wings atrophied.
Up to approximately one and a half years of age, females and males are very similar. After this period, such animals reach sexual maturity. Females start to present a grayish color; and males are black with white wing tips.
The reproductive life of these animals lasts around thirty years; giving rise to approximately 70 eggs/year, per female. These weigh approximately a kilo and a half, are around 20 cm high by 15 cm wide; and are hatched by males for at least forty days.
Such animals adapt well to various types of climate, are resistant to diseases, have a high expectation of life (60 years old), start their reproductive activity early, are quite docile and easily domesticable. Such characteristics, allied to the fact that they have tasty and lean meat, resistant leather and very beautiful feathers; allowed them to become highly targeted animals for commercial breeding. This activity, called ostrich farming, started in our country in 1995.
There are five subspecies of ostrich: Struthio camelus australis, Struthio camelus camelus, Struthio camelus massaicus, Struthio camelus molybdophane, and Struthio camelus syriacus, already extinct. The specific crossing between them allowed the emergence of commercially exploited varieties:
- African black, also called black neck: cross between S.c. syriacus, S.c. camelus and S.c. australis;
- Blue neck, also called blue neck: cross between S.c. molybdophanes, S.c. australis and S.c. syriacus;
- Red neck, also called red neck: crossing between S.c. camelus and S.c. massaicus.
Regarding conservation status, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Resources Natural, IUCN, considers that such animals are at minimal risk of extinction (least concern, LC).
By Mariana Araguaia
Graduated in Biology
