Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Rheiformes > Rheidae > Rhea > Rhea americana

Rhea americana (Greater Rhea)

Synonyms: Struthio americanus

Wikipedia Abstract

The greater rhea (Rhea americana) is a flightless bird found in eastern South America. Other names for the greater rhea include the grey, common, or American rhea; ñandú (Guaraní); or ema (Portuguese). One of two species in the genus Rhea, in the family Rheidae, the greater rhea is endemic to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. It inhabits a variety of open areas, such as grasslands, savanna or grassy wetlands. Weighing 20–27 kilograms (44–60 lb), the greater rhea is the largest bird in South America. In the wild, the greater rhea has a life expectancy of 10.5 years. It is also notable for its reproductive habits, and for the fact that a group has established itself in Germany in recent years. The species is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN.
View Wikipedia Record: Rhea americana

Infraspecies

Rhea americana albescens (Greater rhea)
Rhea americana americana (Greater rhea)
Rhea americana araneipes (Greater rhea)
Rhea americana intermedia (Greater rhea)
Rhea americana nobilis (Greater rhea)

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
15
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
52
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 30.7901
EDGE Score: 4.1523
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  51.533 lbs (23.375 kg)
Birth Weight [2]  1.323 lbs (600 g)
Diet [3]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates), Frugivore, Granivore, Herbivore
Diet - Ectothermic [3]  10 %
Diet - Endothermic [3]  10 %
Diet - Fruit [3]  20 %
Diet - Invertibrates [3]  20 %
Diet - Plants [3]  20 %
Diet - Seeds [3]  20 %
Forages - Ground [3]  100 %
Clutch Size [5]  20
Clutches / Year [1]  1
Egg Length [1]  5 inches (131 mm)
Egg Width [1]  3.543 inches (90 mm)
Incubation [4]  36 days
Maximum Longevity [1]  50 years
Female Maturity [4]  1 year 2 months
Male Maturity [4]  1 year 2 months

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

Important Bird Areas

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Atlantic Forest Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay No
Cerrado Brazil No
Tropical Andes Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela No

Prey / Diet

Prey / Diet Overlap

Predators

Harpyhaliaetus coronatus (Crowned Solitary Eagle)[7]
Speothos venaticus (Bush Dog)[8]

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Ceratophyllus gallinae (European chicken flea)[9]
Dicheilonema rheae <Unverified Name>[10]
Dispharynx nasuta[10]
Strigea nugax[10]
Taenia tauricollis <Unverified Name>[10]

Range Map

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
♦ 2del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
♦ 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
♦ 4de 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
♦ 5Jetz 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
♦ 6Comparatore, Viviana, and Cristina Yagueddú. Diet of the Greater Rhea (Rhea americana) in an agroecosystem of the Flooding Pampa, Argentina. Ornitologia Neotropical 18.2 (2007): 187-194.
♦ 7Crowned eagles rarely prey on livestock in central Argentina: persecution is not justified, José Hernán Sarasola, Miguel Ángel Santillán, Maximiliano Adrián Galmes, Endangered Species Research 11: 207–213, 2010
♦ 83.10 Bush dog, Speothos venaticus, G.L. Zuercher, M. Swarner, L. Silveira and O. Carrillo, Sillero-Zubiri, C., Hoffmann, M. and Macdonald, D.W. (eds). 2004. Canids: Foxes, Wolves, Jackals and Dogs. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. x + 430 pp.
♦ 9International Flea Database
♦ 10Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
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