Ostrich in Safari Land

Bellostrich8.08 Earl Plato

Keep your windows closed! If not, one of the workers in their zebra-pattered pick up trucks will tell you so. We remembered the ostriches from the last visit to African Lion Safari. One ostrich in particular this August day wanted to see what was inside our car. We tapped on the inside of our windows and she approached quickly. Was there food inside this car? She tapped her huge beak on our windows. We had a good look at this large female bird. Ostriches usually weigh from 93 to 10kg (200 to 285 lb.) This was a good sized female probably around 250 pounds. Females are greyish-brown and white. The head of and neck of both male and female ostriches is nearly bare. we could see a thin layer of down. She was that close to us. The strong legs of the ostrich has no feathers. The bird has just two toes on each foot.. The nail of the larger one resembles a hoof. The inner one lacks a nail. We are told that it aids in running. The wings are not used for flight but are still large with a wingspan of over six feet. The group of ostriches we saw had young ones present. It looked as the mother used her wings to shade her chicks. Makes sense, eh.
The beak we saw on our female ostrich was flat and broad with a rounded tip. It was that tip that repeatedly hit our windows with some force. Definitely an interesting bird