Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Struthioniformes > Struthionidae > Struthio > Struthio camelus

Struthio camelus (Ostrich; Common Ostrich)

Wikipedia Abstract

The ostrich or common ostrich (Struthio camelus) is either one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member(s) of the genus Struthio, which is in the ratite family. In 2014, the Somali ostrich (Struthio molybdophanes) was recognized as a distinct species. The ostrich is farmed around the world, particularly for its feathers, which are decorative and are also used as feather dusters. Its skin is used for leather products and its meat is marketed commercially, with its leanness a common marketing point.
View Wikipedia Record: Struthio camelus

Infraspecies

Struthio camelus australis (Southern ostrich)
Struthio camelus camelus (Ostrich)
Struthio camelus massaicus (North African ostrich)
Struthio camelus syriacus (Arabian Ostrich)

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
28
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
50
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 54.4249
EDGE Score: 4.01503
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  236.998 lbs (107.50 kg)
Birth Weight [2]  3.307 lbs (1.50 kg)
Female Weight [1]  220.463 lbs (100.00 kg)
Male Weight [1]  253.533 lbs (115.00 kg)
Weight Dimorphism [1]  15 %
Diet [3]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates), Granivore, Herbivore
Diet - Invertibrates [3]  10 %
Diet - Plants [3]  50 %
Diet - Seeds [3]  30 %
Diet - Vertibrates [3]  10 %
Forages - Ground [3]  100 %
Clutch Size [6]  7
Clutches / Year [1]  1
Egg Length [1]  6 inches (158 mm)
Egg Width [1]  4.921 inches (125 mm)
Incubation [5]  40 days
Mating System [2]  Polygyny
Maximum Longevity [7]  50 years
Speed [8]  42.994 MPH (19.22 m/s)
Female Maturity [4]  3 years
Male Maturity [4]  3 years

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Cape Floristic Region South Africa No
Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa Kenya, Mozambique, Somalia, Tanzania No
Horn of Africa Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Oman, Somalia, Yemen No
Succulent Karoo Namibia, South Africa No

Prey / Diet

Prey / Diet Overlap

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Houttuynia struthionis[12]
Libyostrongylus douglassii[12]
Libyostrongylus magnus <Unverified Name>[12]
Struthiolipeurus struthionis[13]
Versternema struthionis <Unverified Name>[12]

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 2Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 3Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 4del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
♦ 5Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org
♦ 6Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
♦ 7de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 8Alerstam T, Rosén M, Bäckman J, Ericson PGP, Hellgren O (2007) Flight Speeds among Bird Species: Allometric and Phylogenetic Effects. PLoS Biol 5(8): e197. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050197
♦ 9Williams, J. B., Siegfried, W. R., Milton, S. J., Adams, N. J., Dean, W. R. J., du Plessis, M. A. and Jackson, S. (1993), Field Metabolism, Water Requirements, and Foraging Behavior of Wild Ostriches in the Namib. Ecology, 74: 390–404.
♦ 10"Fig-eating by vertebrate frugivores: a global review", MIKE SHANAHAN, SAMSON SO, STEPHEN G. COMPTON and RICHARD CORLETT, Biol. Rev. (2001), 76, pp. 529–572
♦ 11Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 12Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
♦ 13Species Interactions of Australia Database, Atlas of Living Australia, Version ala-csv-2012-11-19
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0