Common Ostrich

The largest living bird, the Common Ostrich stands about 210 cm tall and weighs some 100 kg, far too heavy to fly but capable of great running speed on powerful legs. Males have black body plumage with white wing and tail feathers, while females and immatures are grey-brown, and bare skin on the neck and thighs ranges from pink to blue. Omnivorous, it takes plants, seeds, roots, flowers, insects, and small vertebrates, swallowing pebbles to grind food in the gizzard. It occupies open arid and semi-arid savannas, Sahel, and dry woodland across Africa, laying two to eleven eggs in a communal ground scrape, incubated for 42 to 46 days; chicks leave the nest within days of hatching. The male's deep booming roar is startlingly lion-like. It is listed as Least Concern.