The natural habitat of the emu ostrich. Emu: ostrich-like bird

Emu is a large flightless Australian bird. Emu, along with, is Australia's official stamp. This ostrich is not only a great runner, but also a great swimmer. Bird Report with Video and Photo

Detachment - Cassowary

Family - Emu

Genus / Species - Dromaius novaehollandiae

Basic data:

DIMENSIONS

Height: up to 1.7 m.

Body height: 1m.

Weight: Emu weighs an average of 50 kg, females are slightly heavier than males.

Propagation

Puberty: from 2 years.

Nesting period: Depends on the region.

Carrying: 1 or 2 per year.

Number of eggs: 7-8.

Incubation: 56-66 days.

LIFESTYLE

Habits: Emu ostriches (see photo) outside the breeding season lead a flock of nomadic life.

Food: plants, seeds and fruits, as well as insects, small rodents and lizards.

Life span: 5-10 years, more in captivity.

KINDS

Relatives of emu are cassowary and.

The usual emu plumage is dark in color, and by the nesting period it becomes light brown. This unusual flightless bird is a close relative of cassowary and African ostrich. All these birds have a similar skull structure and equally long, strong legs.

Propagation

The male builds an oval-shaped platform on the ground, 1 m long and 70 cm wide. The nest is lined with grass, leaves and twigs.

The female lays 7-8 large, olive-green eggs in the nest. It is interesting that the male incubates the eggs and takes care of the chicks, not the female. A caring father incubates eggs for 56-66 days, while all this time he does not eat and only occasionally goes to a watering place. It should be noted that in the first and last weeks of incubation, the male does not leave the nest at all, even at a watering place. For all this time, the male emu loses up to a third of its weight. The chicks hatch after 56-66 days and quickly leave the nest. After the appearance of the chicks, the male spends all his attention on them. He takes care of the chicks for 5-7 months.

EMU AND MAN

A. Brem described six types of emus that lived on the islands surrounding Australia. Unfortunately, the first immigrants completely destroyed the population of these birds, therefore, only one type of emu is currently known. These amazing birds were killed for meat. Oil was made from their fat, which was used for medicinal purposes and as a fuel. Nowadays, emus are destroyed because they cause tangible damage to agriculture. Emu also drink water and eat grass in pastures where flocks of sheep graze. The emu population on the Australian continent has survived, despite all the government programs to exterminate them. People care about emu is manifested in the fact that they arrange drinking bowls for these birds.

LIFESTYLE

Outside of the nesting period, emus are kept in small groups. In dry periods are combined in thousands of flocks. Emu are nomad birds. In search of food, they travel vast distances. Emu are perfectly adapted for traveling, therefore, only during the nesting period, when the males incubate eggs, they stay for a long time in one place. Having found a rich source of food, they accumulate fat. Due to this, the bird, whose mass is 45 kg, survives during the famine when its weight decreases to 30 kg (males lose up to one third of their weight when hatched).

FOOD

Emu chooses her food very carefully. He prefers hearty food, that is, seeds, plant buds and fruits. Eats and juicy roots. Emu does not eat grass and dry branches even when there is no better food. Emu also eats insects, lizards and rodents, especially if there are a lot of them. Swallows pebbles, which contributes to better digestion of food in the stomach. Some pebbles can be large enough and reach a mass of up to 50 g.

Emu needs a regular watering hole, in addition, he is an excellent swimmer. Thanks to nutritious food, small ostriches grow quite quickly. A large amount of food and its availability is the reason for the rapid increase in the number of this species.

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Birds are becoming smaller, on the island of Tasmania they were destroyed in the XIX century.

Emu is a flightless bird. His weight is 55 kg, height is 170 cm. He lives throughout Australia, they can be found in the steppes and semi-deserts. Nests are arranged on the ground from densely knocked down grass. Here they lay 8-10 eggs that the father incubates. They feed on fresh shoots of grass, seeds, berries, and can enjoy locusts and grasshoppers. Often spoil the crop by eating crops in the fields. Therefore, farmers often hunt them.

• The first Australian emu eggs were making omelettes. Several people could get enough of one egg. The yolk of the emu egg contains a lot of fat, so cooks usually poured eggs from the shell, left them overnight to cool, and the next day they collected fat before frying.
• Australians use the disrespectful expression "stupid like an emu." The birds got the name "emu" for their piercing invocation cry "uh-uh."
• In the stomach of one emu, shot during a punitive expedition, 3,000 caterpillars were found.
• Emu is an incredibly interesting bird. They tell many stories about how he behaves while searching for food. One emu drank paint from a can, and then swallowed the can itself.

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF EMU. DESCRIPTION

Chicks: have a striped color.

Plumage: long feathers hanging separately, usually dark or gray-brown.

Wings: small, absolutely not adapted for flight. In the heat, the emu is fanning themselves to cool.

Nest and eggs: the male builds a flat nest with a diameter of 1 m and lines it with grass and branches. The female lays 7-8 large, olive-green eggs.

Legs: long and strong. Emu travels long distances at a fast pace. Three toes on the feet.

- Emu habitat

WHERE LIVES

Emu lives in shrubby sand deserts and steppes of Australia and on the island of Tasmania.

SECURITY AND SAVING

In Australia, emu is a large species that is not in danger, despite the fact that its habitat is being destroyed and agricultural land is appearing in their place. In many regions, the emu population is constantly monitored.

Ostrich Emu, stupid Emu. Video (00:01:36)

Ostrich Emu is a large Australian bird from the order of cassowary. Emu used to be classified as ostrich-like, but in the 1980s the classification was revised.
Ostrich Emu is a bit like a cassowary, but does not have leathery growths on the neck and a “helmet”. Also, on each foot, an emu has three toes, and an ostrich has two. The length of the bird is from 150 to 190 cm, and the weight ranges from 30 to 55 kg. Emu capable of speeds up to 50 km / h. This speed is achieved thanks to the long legs, which allow the birds to take steps up to 280 cm. The emu has no teeth, therefore, to grind food in the stomach, they swallow glass, stones and pieces of metal.

Tango emu ostrich / Tango emu. Video (00:01:42)

Emu bird. Video (00:04:20)

Kharkov, zoo, ostrich Emu, thoroughbred hens. Video (00:02:42)

The advantages of growing Emu ostriches are well-known: it is delicate dietary meat and practically waste-free production (you can sell everything: from claws to eggs laid by ostriches). Having grown an ostrich to a year and a half age, you can get about forty kilograms of meat, and if you leave the female for breeding, then about fifty eggs can be sold from her for a year. Emu Ostrich Breeding at home - a difficult task, but doable even for a beginner. Where to start?

Ostrich Emu at home

Emu ostriches at home - features of growing

Interestingly, the maintenance of one, with a competent approach, an ostrich can be cheaper than the content of an ordinary pig. We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the basic requirements and rules for growing poultry.

The subtleties of breeding Emu ostriches:

• Ostrich Emu requires a lot of space for growth and walking. It is best if such a pasture is full of growing grass and flowers.
• Most often, there are no special difficulties for beginning owners of Emu ostriches. It is important only to monitor the correct formation of ostrich families, for this it is important to give the birds to choose their own partners, this is the only way to increase the ostrich egg production. At the same time, it is important to take into account the moment that at least two females should fall on each male.
• If in the natural environment ostriches begin to lay eggs from about the age of four, then in captivity this period is halved and the Emu ostrich can begin to lay eggs already at the age of two and continue to do this until they reach forty.

IMPORTANT! About a month and a half should pass for high-quality egg incubation, and ostriches are characterized by alternate egg incubation: at night the male takes on this task, and in the daytime the female warms the nest. In the event that it is planned to put a brood of ostriches on the stream, it makes sense to purchase an incubator in which the eggs will mature, as well as a special hatcher in which the chicks will be born.

Ostrich care at home

As a rule, caring for ostrich eggs is not difficult and is almost no different from caring for the eggs of another bird. To maintain a livestock of ostriches on a small farm, up to a dozen eggs will be enough, the rest can be used as food.

Emu young chicks

To care for young ostriches, Emu needs to create special conditions:

• For young chicks, you need to prepare a special room in which it will be warm and dry. In addition, it is important to separate the young livestock from adults, while maintaining the required air temperature at thirty degrees.
• It is important for young ostriches to separate a vast space, because they grow quite quickly, up to one centimeter per day. Over time, they will need about five square meters per individual.

Caring for Emu ostriches at home is not at all difficult, it is enough to create conditions for them that are as close as possible to their natural environment. Therefore, even a relatively small area of \u200b\u200btheir enclosed content must be balanced with vast grounds for walking on the street. Do not forget that in the winter, ostriches of Emus should be protected from excessive cooling, although due to the dense plumage it is rather difficult for them to freeze. In summer, it is preferable to keep the bird on the street, under the sun.

So breeding emu ostriches at home - the task is simple and almost no different from growing any other poultry.

Emu-like two goats.

At first glance it seems that it is difficult to breed them. Of course, they require premises (in the north - capital), but after all, no one grows the rest of the living creatures under the open sky alone. In general, the content of the ostrich can be compared with the content of any other farm animals. The most unpretentious of ostriches is the Australian emu.

Emu is the second largest bird in the world, its height reaches 170-190 cm, and weight - 70 kg. The emu has a long neck and very long thin legs, which allows the bird to develop greater speed. The wings of the emu do not have fly and tail feathers, so he, like other ostriches, cannot fly, but is famous for his love of water and even knows how to swim well.

It is very difficult to distinguish a female and a male from each other - both their weight and height are almost the same (on average 55-57 kg and 155-170 cm, respectively). And only in the mating season, when the birds form pairs, the males stand out - they begin to make loud invocation cries.

Emu become sexually mature at 3 years. Their mating season begins in the fall, at the end of September - October. Emu - come from the southern hemisphere, and in their homeland at this time in early spring. In January-February, the female lays eggs in the nest prepared by the male and leaves the clutch. Emu eggs are oblong, dark green in color, weighing 600-650 g. (By the way, the egg production of the female remains for 20 years.) In the clutch there are 2 to 30 eggs (in fact, the female carries one egg every three days).

Further, the care of the offspring takes on the father of the family. Hatching eggs lasts 53-66 days. In the first and last two weeks of this period, the male does not get up from the nest at all, during incubation he loses up to 16 kg of his own weight. On farms, the male replaces the incubator. The temperature in it should be 37-38 °, air humidity - 40-70%.

Emu are well tolerated by the cold and easily adapt to new conditions. But at the same time, it is nevertheless necessary to provide the optimum temperature of 13-15 ° during the laying of eggs by the female. In the department for young animals, a temperature of 18-20 ° is desirable. And in the summer it’s enough to install a canopy from the sun for the bird.

For stall maintenance, an adult emu needs 10-15 square meters (chick - about 5 square meters), for walking - 50-60 square meters per head. Since the emu is very mobile, it is necessary to fix all the posts and the fence from the outside. Emu can not fly, so hedges with a height of 150-180 cm will be enough. If you decide to use a grid, then its cells should be so small that the bird could not stick its head into them. And do not leave the upper edges of the hedge unprocessed, otherwise the bird may injure itself.

In vivo, the emu feeds on grass, insects, fruits and various seeds. The basis of the diet of ostriches contained in the compound is feed. Grain mixers, grass, hay, bread, vegetables, root crops, waste from the meat, dairy and fishing industries are added to it. An adult ostrich eats about three kilograms of feed per day, half of which is coarse and juicy. For comparison: two adult goats consume about the same amount. Ostriches do not know how to chew, so it is advisable to give them shredded grass and hay, otherwise it is possible to block the esophagus of the bird with tangles of stems.

Practice shows that for ostriches the very same compound feeds are given that are given to a bird traditional for our places. For example, in the first month of growing emu chicks, you can give them feed for turkey poults, in the second for guinea fowl, then for broilers, from 4-5 months for young egg chickens, and later for laying hens. Such a menu is determined by the amount of protein contained in the specified compound feeds and necessary for the bird: first, about 28%, then gradually it decreases to 17-19%. Feeding should not be excessive and stimulate too much weight gain. Excessive bird growth can cause limb curvature.
N. Tkacheva

If you decide to engage in breeding emu, then first of all you will have to spend money on creating normal conditions for the life of a bird (buy or rent land, build or reconstruct premises, equip paddles, purchase feeds - all, of course, taking into account the scale of your future farm )

It is still necessary to decide whether you will sell eggs and poultry for breeding or prefer to sell products (meat, fat, feather, etc.). In the first case, your main efforts will be directed to the maintenance of an adult breeding stock and incubation of eggs, to the withdrawal of young animals. In the second option, you will have to pay special attention to sales.

For normal functioning, the economy must sell its products year-round, its quality must be kept at a constantly good level. Where to start breeding ostriches? Buying eggs for further incubation is the cheapest option, but more risky due to the high mortality rate of young animals, and the timing of obtaining a fowl is extended. Buying ostriches is more expensive (daily emu costs from 200, one-year-old from 800 dollars), but significantly reduces losses due to mortality and speeds up the time for receiving poultry. Buying adult breeding ostriches is the most expensive option (the price per head is from $ 1,500), but it makes it possible to start commercial production next year.

Emu ostrich eggs are healthy, as are chicken eggs. They do not even differ in cooking methods. The weight of one egg is from 450 g. up to 1800g., Which is approximately 25-40 chicken eggs. The largest egg is 18.67 cm in diameter and weighs 2350 g. has been registered in China.

The shell of an emu egg is very dense and strong, despite this it is quite easy to break it. It is dark green, almost black in color, and the eggs themselves have a saturated yolk and translucent protein.

In free sale, eggs in our country are not found. You can only get them from the breeder in the spring and summer, as only during this period are the eggs emu. It takes about 75-80 minutes to cook such a huge egg.

The first mention of emu ostriches (including eggs) appeared in the 1-2 century BC At least they are captured on the grave of a Chinese emperor from the Han Dynasty. Then they spread to the territory of today's Central Asia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. In the twentieth century, they appeared on the territory of the Arabian and Syrian deserts. At the moment, ostrich farms where this bird is raised are very common in Ukraine and Russia.

In some Polish restaurants they cook huge eggs from such eggs, it can feed about 10 people. Emu eggs are also used for baking (mainly in production), as they have a strong taste. It is added to salads and fried omelets.

The shelf life of intact eggs is about 3 months, and a broken egg can be divided into portions and stored in the refrigerator for about 2-3 days.

There is another use for emu eggs. Due to their similarity with porcelain, they are perfect for engraving and painting, as well as for the production of souvenirs in the decoupage style.

The calorie content of emu eggs

The product contains almost 160 kcal, it is quite oily and nutritious. This is a protein meal with a low level of carbohydrates, which overweight people should not get involved in.

Nutritional value per 100 grams:

Useful properties of emu eggs

Composition and availability of nutrients

Emu eggs contain a huge amount of beneficial substances similar to those found in chicken eggs. They are considered a dietary product, as they have very low cholesterol. It is in these eggs that the level of harmful substances is lower than the eggs of poultry. This product is hypoallergenic, rich in trace elements and vitamins.

Emu eggs also contain polyunsaturated acids, which help maintain the cardiovascular system.

Cooking use

Eggs are used in cooking for preparing various snacks, casseroles and pastries.

From emu eggs you can make a great light snack. To do this, boil the egg until cooked, peel and cut into rings. Each ring should be smeared with a thin layer of butter, put like a cake on a plate and pour in mustard-creamy sauce.

Each table will be decorated with a dish called scramble. First you need to cut 150 g of ham into small slices and chop a bunch of green onions. One and a half teaspoons of dill seeds crushed in a mortar. Next, in a large bowl, beat the emu egg and milk, with the addition of 1 teaspoon of ground paprika, then add ham, green onion, dill seeds and salt to taste there. We smear the baking dish with butter and pour the resulting mixture into it. We put in the oven, heated to 160 degrees. Cooking time is approximately 15-17 minutes.

Hazardous properties of emu eggs

Emu eggs are very similar in composition to chicken eggs and are considered difficult to digest due to their high cholesterol content. In addition, cholesterol in excess clogs blood vessels and, therefore, contributes to the appearance of wrinkles and bags under the eyes, and also leads to

Emu is a large bird that looks very much like an ostrich. For this reason, emu used to be called the Australian ostrich and was assigned to the order Ostrich-shaped. However, it has now been proved that the emu is closer to the cassowary, therefore, in modern taxonomy, it is the only species in the emu family in the Cassowary order.

Despite the large size of the emu, it is still much smaller than the African ostrich, in height it reaches 150-180 cm, weighs 35-55 kg. He does not have such peculiar structural features as the African ostrich - the bladder and two-fingered paws, that is, the emu is more like a typical bird.

Emu head. Photo: Muhammad Mahdi Karim

The nature of the feather cover is also very different. Emu feathers are very well studied, therefore they have a hairy structure. Such a plumage similar to wool is another distant relative of the emu - kiwi. At the same time, the emu has ostrich features: a flattened beak and well distinguishable auricles. On the body of the emu, the feathers are very long and its body resembles a living pile of hay, on the head and neck the feathers are short and curly. The color of the plumage is black-brown, the head and neck are black, the upper part of the neck is light gray, the iris of the eyes is orange-brown. Sexual dimorphism is weakly expressed - females are slightly larger than males.

Emus live exclusively in Australia and on the island of Tasmania off its coast. These birds inhabit open and dry biotopes - shrubbery and grass savannas (Australian bush), can go to the outskirts of deserts, but do not penetrate into their depths. Emu lead a sedentary lifestyle, in the western part of the continent some birds make seasonal movements: in the north to the summer, in the south to the winter. Emu usually keep alone, less often in pairs or small groups of 3-5 individuals. Adult birds have almost no enemies, so they calmly walk through open spaces and only in case of danger break into fast running, while they reach speeds of up to 50 km / h. Emu's vision is well developed, so they can see a moving object for several hundred meters and do not allow proximity to large animals and people. Nevertheless, in a direct collision, an Australian ostrich is able to break the ribs of a dog or a person’s arm with a strong leg. In a normal situation, the emu is practically silent, the males during the mating season emit sounds remotely resembling a quiet whistle.

They feed on rhizomes, seeds and fruits of plants, small animals (grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants, bugs, lizards, etc.). Food is pecked from the ground and plant stems. Emu well tolerate drought, but on occasion they readily drink water from temporary puddles, and also visit shallow ponds. These birds love to swim and even know how to swim. But they, on the contrary, do not like to take dust baths.

Emu discovery

In 1789, a description of the journey of Governor Philip to Botanibey appeared, from which the scientific world first learned that Australia was also inhabited by ostriches. The species, called “New Holland cassowary” in that essay, is now called “emu”, by which former Portuguese sailors meant one gigantic Malacca bird. Emu in appearance resembles an ostrich, only his torso is more compressed and stocky, his neck is shorter and his legs are lower, which, in general, gives a completely different impression. The beak of the emu is straight, strongly compressed from the sides, on the back with a clear keel and rounded at the end. Large nostrils covered with skin open approximately in the middle of the beak. The legs are very strong, feathered down to the heel joint and covered underneath with strong shields; three-fingered paws; extreme fingers of the same length and equipped with large claws. The wings are so small that they cannot even be noticed when they are pressed to the body, their plumage is not at all different from the dorsal, so there is no mention of fly wings; tail feathers are also missing. The plumage covers almost the entire body, leaving only the sides of the head and throat naked. All individual feathers differ in considerable length and small width, remarkable flexibility and softness of trunks. The floors do not differ in color, except in part in size. Emu is inferior in size to the African ostrich, but surpasses the Nanda in this respect. Its height reaches approximately 1.7 m; hunters had to kill males 2 m tall. The plumage is uniformly matte brown, darker on the head, in the middle of the neck and back, lighter on the underside. The eyes are light brown, the beak is dark horny, the legs are light brown. The bare parts of the face look blue-gray.

Ostrich Emu. Photo: Benjamint444

They say that emus are kept here in small groups of three to five birds, but they never make up a large herd, and that their habits and customs are exactly the same as those of ostriches. But nevertheless, I must note that those from which this opinion proceeds could hardly compare these two birds. As far as one can judge, the ostrich and emu in captivity are so significantly different from each other in the manner of holding that the habits of free living birds, it is very clear, must differ from each other.

Curry notices that Emu is an excellent runner, and therefore he gets the same magnificent baiting that he does in England for hares. Cunningam replenishes this news, describing the hunt itself, and says that dogs that go on a kangaroo are used for it; but dogs do not always chase birds, because they are afraid of their scary legs. Colonists claim that the emu is able to break a man’s shin or kill a predator with one stroke of his strong leg; therefore, well-trained dogs rush at him in front, grab him by the neck and knock him to the ground. Emu meat is compared to tough cattle meat and praised for its taste, although it is slightly sweet; the meat of young emu, according to the unanimous assurance of all, has a wonderful taste. Emu is very fat; then his meat is fried mainly in order to melt lard, which, in the eyes of the hunter, serves as an excellent remedy for all sorts of diseases, especially against attacks of gout. Regarding the reproduction of emu living in freedom, we have little information. Gould says that the female lays 6-7 beautiful dark green, grainy eggs in the groove.

Dug by her in the ground, most often in a sandy place; both birds stay constantly together, the male takes an active part in hatching. Bennett reports that the nest dug in the hills overgrown with shrubs always contains an odd number of eggs: 9, 11 or 13.

Emu Reproduction

The male and female in mating games, standing face to face, bow their heads and shake them above the ground. Having finished with a simple courtship, the male leads the female to the nest prepared by him, a hole under the bush, carelessly laid out with grass, foliage, bark, branches. Emu has several friends, all together give him 15-25 eggs. But often one, then the eggs in the nest are only 7-8. He incubates them for two months and eats almost nothing. After sitting hours 16-17, gets up to get drunk and peck the road some leaves and herbs. While he is not there, the female comes and adds another egg to the nest. At the Moscow Zoo, an emu male incubated for 52 days, ate nothing and lost almost 8 kilograms, losing 15 percent of his weight. Not so much, however.

Emu chicks will be born weighing half a kilogram. Their backs are adorned with the same longitudinal stripes as those of young Nandus. The male, when incubating, is peacefully tuned and allows you to take eggs from under you. Unless, of course, someone has the strength to raise or push a bulky bird from the nest. It is another matter when a father, proud of the results of his asceticism, leads striped kids somewhere where you can feed on caterpillars, locusts and other insects, in the early days they only eat it. The emu guarding his offspring is aggressive and, at one stroke of his powerful leg, he broke bones of people who inadvertently met him.

It is better for outsiders and strangers to not get involved with emu. This was a hard experience for the inhabitants of one place in Australia, in which the manual emu lived. He loved bad jokes: he was catching up with a man and tearing his hat off his head. Then, satisfied with the hooligan trick, he majestically and calmly retired to deal with the hated headdress without witnesses.
  Emu runs briskly like an ostrich - 50 kilometers per hour. He takes care of the children, like the ostrich, but loves to swim not in the sand, like an ostrich and rhea, but in the water. Swims perfectly, can swim for a long time, although massive. However, the cassowary, which weighs almost 30 kilograms more, also swims well and catches fish along the way.

Emu lighter than any other short-winged bred in captivity. The couple that Bennett observed in the London Zoological Garden brought out the chicks. Since then, not only in London, but also in many other zoological gardens, litter has been successfully obtained. In Germany, Bodinus bred emu annually and always with more or less favorable results. Only the male incubates and, moreover, with such rare zeal that even for all the time, for 58 days, he does not eat, at least he has never been caught for food. The main color of the plumage of the chicks is grayish-white; two broad, dark lobar stripes run along the back, two stripes on the sides, which are separated by a narrow white line. These stripes connect at the neck and end on the head with irregular spots; two other intermittent stripes adorn the front of the neck and chest and end with a wide strip that runs along the hips.

In the Berlin Zoological Garden, the female not only does not care about the chicks, but even showed such hostility towards them that they were forced to separate them from the cubs. But the male with touching selflessness bears all the maternal cares, in any case, bravely inflicts brutal blows with his well-armed legs and, in general, while the chicks need his help, shows the most intense excitement. Chicks grow up very quickly and already from an early youth feel an aversion to reclusive life in four walls. At first, they stay under the wings of their father, then beside him, eat greedily from the second day of their life and develop the better, the longer they enjoy the protection of their father. After three months, they grow to half their true growth, and in two years they reach full development.

Australian farmers have claims to emu: they seem to spoil the crops, trample and deplete the pastures reserved for sheep. Thousands of emu are killed for this: in 1964, prizes were paid for the 14,500 destroyed emu. Unfortunately for emu, their meat turned out to be tasty, like beef, and from the eggs you can melt excellent edible oil.

The soldiers of the Royal Australian Artillery under the command of a major, in alliance with local farmers, with two machine guns and ten thousand rounds of ammunition, marched against the emu. They hoped to drive them to wire fences and shoot them with machine guns, as they managed to do this earlier in northwestern New South Wales. However, only 12 emu were killed in this war, which proves that the art of camouflage and timely retreat of the emu was better mastered than the soldiers.

The fences that did not help the soldiers in the battle to carry out the military plan stretched hundreds of kilometers through the territory of Western Australia alone. People drove ostriches to the north of this state, in barren semi-deserts. But in dry years, emu leave from anhydrous north to south. Wire fences should restrain their onslaught and keep birds out of sheep pastures.

There was once a kinship with emu: he lived on the islands of King and Kangaroo small, or black emu. It was opened in 1802. Two years later, a pair of black emus were brought to Paris to the zoo of Josephine, Napoleon's wife. The last of them died in 1822. All black emus are already exterminated, only a few skins and skeletons are kept by some museums.

Of all the bats, the emu is the most boring. His movements, behavior, character and habits are much more uniform than that of other relatives. And the emu's voice is not very attractive: it can be compared with the dull noise that comes out of an empty barrel, when the children, playing by removing the sleeve from the barrel, blow directly into the hole. The males and the females have different voices, but this difference is so insignificant that you need to have the most delicate hearing or the ear familiar to these sounds in order to catch it. About a crazy race with quick, like lightning, turns and strange movements that are seen in real ostriches, there can be no question.