Emu vs Great Tit
Dromaius novaehollandiae compared with Parus major
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Attribute | Emu | Great Tit |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Dromaius novaehollandiae | Parus major |
| Order | Casuariiformes | Passeriformes |
| Family | Dromaiidae | Paridae |
| Conservation Status | Least Concern | Least Concern |
| Length | 175.0 cm (68.9 in) | 14.0 cm (5.5 in) |
| Wingspan | 20.0 cm (7.9 in) | 24.0 cm (9.4 in) |
| Weight | 45000.0 g (1587.33 oz) | 18.0 g (0.63 oz) |
| Diet | Plants, seeds, fruits, flowers, and insects. Swallows large stones and charcoal to grind food in … | Insects and spiders in summer, seeds and nuts in winter. A frequent and dominant visitor … |
| Clutch Size | 5-24 | 3-18 |
| Population Trend | — | — |
Size Comparison
Habitat Comparison
Emu
Open grasslands, savanna woodlands, scrublands, and semi-arid plains across Australia. Avoids dense forest and true desert.
Great Tit
Deciduous and mixed woodland, parks, gardens, and hedgerows. Readily uses nest boxes. Highly adaptable to human environments.
Song & Call Comparison
Emu
Deep, resonant booming grunt 'e-moo', often repeated 3 times. Females give a deep drumming call produced by an inflatable throat pouch. Generally low-pitched and far-carrying.
Great Tit
A repetitive, teacher-teacher 'tee-cher, tee-cher, tee-cher'. Also gives ringing 'pink-pink' alarm. Highly versatile singer; over 40 song variants recorded from a single male.
Geographic Range & Migration
Emu
Throughout mainland Australia. Absent from Tasmania, where the Tasmanian emu was driven to extinction by 1850.
Great Tit
Widespread across Europe and Asia from Britain to Japan, and south to North Africa and Southeast Asia.
Conservation Status
Emu
Great Tit
How to Tell Them Apart
Emu
Shaggy grey-brown plumage with double-shafted feathers giving a loose, hair-like appearance. Bare blue skin on the face and neck.
Broad, flat, dark grey bill
Great Tit
Blue-black head with white cheeks. Olive-green back, yellow underparts with a broad black central stripe. White wing bar and blue-grey tail.
Short, stout, dark bill
About These Birds
Emu
The emu is the second-tallest living bird and the largest bird native to Australia. It is the only bird with calf muscles, enabling powerful running at up to 50 km/h. In the famous Emu War of 1932, the Australian military was deployed against crop-raiding emus — and the emus arguably won.
Great Tit
The great tit is the largest European tit and one of the most studied wild birds in the world. Research at Wytham Woods in Oxford has monitored great tit populations since the 1940s, contributing enormously to ecology and evolution. These innovative birds famously learned to open milk bottle tops in 20th-century Britain.