Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae)
The Emu is the largest bird native to Australia. It is also the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. The soft-feathered, brown, flightless bird reach up to 2 metres in height. Emus can travel great distances at a fast, economical trot and, if necessary, can sprint at 50 km/h for some distance at a time. They are opportunistically nomadic and may travel long distances to find food. Emus are farmed for their meat, oil, and leather.
The Emu was first described under the name of the New Holland Cassowary in Arthur Phillip's Voyage to Botany Bay, published in 1789. The etymology of the common name Emu is uncertain, but is thought to have come from an Arabic word for large bird that was later used by Portuguese explorers to describe the related Cassowary in Australia and New Guinea.
The Emu has a prominent place in Australian Aboriginal mythology, including a creation myth of the Yuwaalaraay and other groups in NSW who say that the sun was made by throwing an Emu's egg into the sky; the bird features in numerous aetiological stories told across a number of Aboriginal groups. The Emu is popularly but unofficially considered as a faunal emblem - the national bird of Australia. It appears as a shield bearer on the Coat of arms of Australia with the Red Kangaroo and as a part of the Arms also appears on the Australian 50 cent coin. It has featured on numerous Australian postage stamps. The hats of the Australian Light Horse are famously decorated with an Emu feather plume. There are around 600 gazetted places named after the Emu in Australia, including mountains, lakes, creeks, and towns.
Emus tend to avoid heavily populated areas, therefore it is rare to see them close to cities and towns. Once common on the east coast, they are now uncommon in most coastal areas; by contrast, the development of agriculture and the provision of water for stock in the interior of the continent have increased the range of the Emu in arid regions.
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Because emus are Australia's most well known bird, there wouldn't be too many zoos or wildlife parks around the country that don't have an emu or two running around an enclosure. Tame Emus in zoos can be quite inquisitive and have no fear in coming near humans for a closer look, and have bee known to take a sandwich or two from a picnic hamper if given half the chance. This behaviour can be quite scary, particularly for young children, so keep watch for them if entering an enclosure where emus are free to roam.
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Geographic Range
Occurs in Australia in all areas except rainforest and cleared land; rare in deserts and extreme north.
Habitat
The Emu is common over most of mainland Australia, although it avoids heavily populated areas, dense forest, and arid areas. It lives in eucalypt forest, woodland, mallee, heathland and desert shrublands and sandplains. It is found in desert areas only after heavy rains have caused growth of herbs and grasses and heavy fruiting of shrubs. The emu also lives close to Australia's big cities, but is no longer found where native vegetation has been cleared to provide agricultural land.
Description
The emu is the second largest living bird. The height of the emu averages 1.75 m. Females weigh about 5 kg more than males. Emus are large, flightless, shaggy birds. Their loose double feathers, in which the aftershaft (the secondary feather that branches from the base of the main feather) is the same length as the main feather, hang limply from their bodies. Their necks and legs are long, but their wings are tiny, reduced to less than 20 cm. After moulting the birds are dark, but as sunlight fades the melanins that give the feathers their brown colour, the birds become paler. Emus have three toes. Chicks are striped longitudinally with black, brown and cream, so they blend easily into long grass and dense shrubbery.
Behaviour
The emu is a fast runner and can reach speeds of up to 50 km/h. It is a good, strong swimmer. The males sometimes make calls which sound like "e-moo" and can be heard over long distances. Females make characteristic resonant, booming sounds. They must have daily access to fresh water. Their long legs enable them to walk considerable distances at a steady 7 km/h, or escape danger at 48 km/h.
Its rich diet enables an emu to grow fast and reproduce rapidly. But because such foods are not always available in the same place throughout the year, emus must move to remain in contact with their foods. In arid Australia, the exhaustion of a food supply in one place often means moving hundreds of kilo metres to find another source of food. The emu shows two adaptations to this way of life. Firstly, when food is abundant, an emu stores large amounts of fat, and is able to use these while looking for more food. Thus birds that normally weigh 45 kg can keep moving weighing as little as 20 kg. Secondly, emus are only forced to stay in one place when the male is sitting on eggs. At other times they can move without limitation, though at a slow pace when with small chicks.
Food Habits
The emu prefers and seeks a very nutritious diet. They take the parts of plants that have the most concentrated nutrients: seeds, fruits, flowers and young shoots. They also eat insects and small vertebrates when they are easily available, but in the wild they do not eat dry grasses or mature leaves even if they are all that is available. Emus ingest large pebbles to help their gizzards grind up food. They also often eat charcoal.
The seeds, fruits, flowers, insects and young foliage that make up the emu's diet become available after rainfall. Thus emus pattern their movements around places where rain has recently fallen. Emu migrations may be a result of man's own actions. The establishment of large numbers of artificial but permanent watering points in the inland, where cattle and sheep are grazed, has enabled emus to expand into places from which they were previously excluded by lack of water.
Conservation Status
Emus have benefitted from man's activities in inland Australia, because the establishment of watering points for sheep and cattle has provided permanent water where there was none before, and so much of Australia is unoccupied or used as open rangeland that the emu is in no danger of extinction.
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