ORDER: Casuariiformes
FAMILY: Dromaiidae
GENUS: Dromaius
SPECIES: novaehollandiae

A large, flightless bird, the Emu is part of the Ratite family of birds. Living Ratites include emu, ostrich, cassowary and kiwi. 

The Emu is Australia's largest native bird, rather larger than an ostrich. Its height averages 1.75 m at 50-55 kg. Females weigh about 55 kg more than males.

They eat almost anything, including dingoes (Australia's wild dogs). They are part of the Australian coat of arms, along with the kangaroo, because they are said to be the only two Australian animals which do not go backwards.

The emu has been resident in Australia for at least 80 million years and is still very much a part of the landscape of arid Australia.

They are a shy but curious bird, and are very quick runners (up to 50 km/hr), running with a bouncy, swaying motion. They are generally nomadic, with some emus roaming over hundreds of kilometers.

They are particularly dangerous because the males have a backward pointing spur on the foot which is often venomous because the emus go stamping in snakes' nests to collect the snake poison -- the snake's fangs cannot penetrate the Emu's tough lower leg.

The Emu can weigh up to 150 pounds and stands about 5 feet tall. It doesn't fly... and with wings that are about 6 inches long they can't. They are a huge, shaggy grey-brown bird with a long, bare bluish neck and powerful, three-toed legs. Plumage hangs over the rump in a kind of 'bustle' which bounces in a matronly fashion when it runs.

The fossilized bones of the earliest known ratites have been interpreted by some as those of dinosaurs. This is not surprising because ratites and dinosaurs have identically structured leg bones and joints. Ratite leg bones grow in a manner as did those of dinosaurs and they are quite different from those of typical birds. Comparisons of tracks left by ratites and dinosaurs show that they also had like ways of walking and standing. Ratites have retained the posture and gait characteristics of dinosaurs for over 180 million years and, because of that, were used to model the movements of the smaller dinosaurs in the motion picture "Jurassic Park."

The Emu lives in Australia's rugged regions such as the dry plains, scrublands, open woodlands and cold mountainous snow country. It avoids dense forests and is not generally found in populated areas.

It's diet includes fruits, flowers, insects, seeds and green vegetation. It loves caterpillars. It needs water daily. Emus ingest large pebbles--up to 1.6 ounces--to help their gizzards grind up food. They also often eat charcoal.

Its nest is a shallow depression next to a bush made with leaves, grass and bark. It breeds during the dry season (March - October). The female leaves the nest right after laying the eggs (5-11 large, dark green, granulated eggs) and joins a migrating non-breeding group. The male is left to incubate the eggs alone for eight weeks. He does not eat during this time, and looses considerable weight as a result. He stirs only to turn the eggs or to attack intruders, even his mate if she tries to add to the clutch. He conserves energy by lowering his metabolic rate. When the eggs hatch the male then cares for the chicks for up to 18 months.

Chicks hatched away from the father do not know how or what to eat.

An Emu's life span is 5-10 years in the wild.

According to Denise Goodfellow of Australian's Top End, Emus feature in Aboriginal rock art, the best-known that of a man hiding behind a bunch of grass as he spears an Emu.

She notes that "Emus were protected in Western Australia until 1922 when they were officially listed as vermin. Fences, one over 1500 kilmeters long, were erected to keep them out of grain-growing areas. In 1932 Commonwealth and State Governments joined forces in the 'Emu Wars' - army units hunting the bird with machine guns thus provoking public outcry. About 400,000 were killed between 1945 and 1973."

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. So much of Australia is unoccupied or used as open rangeland that the emu is in no danger of extinction.

The Emu is bred for its meat, as well as the skin for leather products. Infertile eggs are hand-painted and sell for as much as AU$1500 each.

It is now extinct in Tamania and parts of southern Australia.

References:

Goodfellow, Denise Lawungkurr with Michael Stott, Birds of Australia's Top End, Scrubfowl Press, Parap, NT, 2001.

Pizzey, Graham and Frank Knight, The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia, Angus & Robertson, 1997.

Emu (Written by Alicia Ivory, University of Michigan)