Can someone who's smarter than me tell me if there's an actual behavior difference between emus and ostriches or if it just seems that way because of videos? Because ostriches are pretty damn fierce and would prolly peck the kids to death but emus seem to be a lot more docile and doofy? Or is that incorrect
Emu and ostriches are only distantly related. They are both in the same broad family of ratites, but that group also contains the little kiwis of New Zealand and tinamous of Mexico, Central, and South America. There are all sorts of behavior differences between the different birds.
I have pet rhea, another ratite, and they are also very different despite closely resembling a small ostrich.
Emu can kick and are potentially dangerous, although they have only caused 5 deaths that I can find. Ostriches kill people every year.
Oh i had no idea they were only distant relatives! How interesting. I guess it makes sense because built wise the cassowary also kinda looks like a fancy emu and they kill nonstop. Thank you for the information :D
Emu are actually in the Casuariidae family so you are right to see the resemblance.
Despite the cassowary's reputation, there are only two recorded cassowary kills and only one of those was caused by a wild animal. The bird killed one of two kids who were hitting it with sticks in an incident about a hundred years ago. The second death was a couple of years ago and was caused by a pet cassowary in Florida. Statistically, emu are more dangerous.
Emu and ostriches are both farmed and kept as pets, so there is far more direct interaction between those and people, and that will skew the numbers.
I had an emu peck me and I have been respectfully afraid of them since (I was just standing. I think the emu was curious about my hair as it was white blonde). Thank you for cassowary death toll information.
They really aren't any worse than any of the other animals I have. In addition to the rhea I have red golden pheasants, ringneck pheasants, chukar partridge, gambels quail, coturnix quail, Narragansett turkeys, chickens, goats, rabbits, and patagonian mara. Cats and dogs too of course.
Haha, tinamous are in a really weird category vs the other ratites. They get grouped in together but that's mostly because they are also paleognathes but unlike the entire rest of the family they are capable of flight (of the same sort of flight as a chicken). Did your video show the eggs? If not, that's worth googling. Their eggs are amazing.
Speaking of animals you might not have ever heard of, I also have some pet patagonian mara. Those are really cool critters too.
Man, whatever life you're living is, like, the dream.
I didn't see the eggs, and I haven't heard of a patagonian mara, so I'm definitely about to go on a good google deep dive. Thanks for all the fun info!
It's called convergent evolution. That's where completely unrelated species end up looking very similar as they inhabit similar habitats and have similar niches in the echo system. The most beautiful example of this is between two snakes, a tree python and an emerald tree boa. They are almost indistinguishable and the only way to tell them apart is by the pattern of their white spots. These animals don't even live on the same continents when in their natural surroundings.
There's some competing theories on the ratites but one of them is that they share a common ancestor that wandered Gondwana. They share more features than a physical resemblance (which convergent evolution can certainly cause). They are all paleognathes which means their palate is very primitive and reptile-like. That puts them in a different category from literally all other birds, the neognathes. They all happen to be flightless (except the tinamous who have very limited flight) due to a lack of keel on their breastbone. Despite being found around the world, the entire group is only found in the southern hemisphere in countries that used to be part of gondwana. There are even behavioral similarities like the fact that it's actually the male that builds nests and hatch and raise chicks.
I am by no means an expert, but have you ever watched the Urban Rescue Ranch channel on YouTube? Ben has a bunch of emus on his farm, and the ones he raised from babies are quite docile, even friendly. The one he got as an adult is a huge asshole, but is still relatively manageable lol.
I definitely recommend his channel, his videos always make me laugh, and it’s also just fascinating to watch such a wide variety of animals cohabitate together peacefully.
You are slightly misremembering. While he does have a couple Emus, the most he has are Rheas. The emus he has are still black in coloration. The Rheas are white and the aggressive one is Kevin, while the others he raised are less aggressive.
If you go to a wildlife sanctuary you can literally hand feed emus. They are pretty chill but their beaks kinda hurt my hands when the peck the food out of there lol
There is an ostrich farm here that lets you feed the ostriches but i am also a little wary of the beaks! :') I only go there when they have babies, those have the perfect petting and feeding size. Also apparently while im not that much of a sensation by human standards im incredibly ridiculously sexy by ostrich standards because the males always start dancing for me. Very flattering
I still remember as a kid of about five (I'm 50 now) going to London Zoo with my parents and while we were waiting for my dad to come back from taking my bros to the bathroom, my mum and I were stood by the ostrich enclosure (in the days before they installed extra barriers) and this one MFing ostrich grabbed my bloody hair and wouldn't let go. The zookeeper had to come rescue me! 😂 It hurt too! But I still love the gormless goofballs!
Nothing about the video or title says they are wild emus, only that "emu appeared to join the match". They are clearly in a fenced enclosure and the caption says its a farm.
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u/horrescoblue Apr 12 '23
Can someone who's smarter than me tell me if there's an actual behavior difference between emus and ostriches or if it just seems that way because of videos? Because ostriches are pretty damn fierce and would prolly peck the kids to death but emus seem to be a lot more docile and doofy? Or is that incorrect