On a tropical island somewhere in the middle of the world, something weird is going on.
The island has hills of sand everywhere and on the east side near a darkwater sea hidden behind bushes and cactuses you will find a farm. What is so strange about a farm on an island? Farms are everywhere. Farms are used for breeding animals and on this farm they breed ostriches. That may be a little unusual but you can’t call that weird. Let me tell you what happened there.

One day, not so long ago, a crocodile hatched from his egg. His name was Croco.
Croco cracked the lid open, took a look around and saw a hundred ostriches. He was very happy to see that he had so many brothers and sisters. He said hello to all of them.
Croco crawled out of his egg and imediately stood on two feet just as he saw his brothers do using his crocodile tale for support. He wanted to fit in right away and so he did everything an ostrich does. He ate grass and seeds. He walked around up straight and he grew bigger just like everybody else did. Croco was being a very good ostrich. Everything was cool and okay.

But one day Croco discovered that he was not really the same as his brothers and sisters. Croco found out that there was a big difference between him and his hundred siblings. Croco could spell the most difficult words. He could count his sisters and read to his brothers. Croco could do all of that and much more but he was the only one. The other ostriches could do no such thing and croco started to take a closer look at them. There was Marie who did nothing but sleep. And there you had Harry who had a permanent case of the hic-cups. There was Fred who would tear out the feathers of anyone standing too close to him. And there was Jason who refused to walk and whose behind was flat from sitting. Croco looked and looked and looked around. He looked at his hundred brothers and sisters and noticed that there was not one of them exactly alike. And Croco decided that every single ostrich had something special. Something really unique and he stopped worrying about him being different. So he had more brains, so what. He was unique in his own special way.

So, when you go and visit this farm you will see hundreds of ostriches. Some will be sleeping, and some will just sit. One has the hic-cups, another one picks feathers off butts and somewhere in a corner under a tree you can find Croco. He will be the one reading a book.

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Are you looking for information for a school talk or a lecture? Or do you want to know more about the ostriches after you visited the Curaçao Ostrich Farm? This is the place to be. Scroll down and you will find what you are looking for!



What ostriches look like?

Difference in color…
Ostriches are the largest birds in the world. The male bird can reach almost three metres in length. The ostrich has a long neck and very long strong legs. The neck and head are covered with short furr like feathers. The male body is covered with black feathers where as the tips of his wings are covered with white ones. The female bird is smaller and her feathers are a more greyish brown color.

Strong legs and dangerous feet…
A grown ostrich can run as fast as 43 miles an hour. This huge bird can take steps of 3.5 metres wide. Its big feet and strong legs can be very dangerous if the ostrich uses them in self-defence.
When threathened the ostrich will kick to kill with these hooflike feet consisting of two toes and one very sharp nail.


Where ostriches live?

Body guards…..
The ostrich lives in Africa. Large groups of ostriches often roam about savannah area’s and desertlike waste land looking for food. Because of their size and their ability to see so far ostriches stand guard for all animals. The ostrich is the first to see danger coming and starts to make warning sounds. The other ostriches are warned and so is every other animal in the neighbourhood. They will all know it is time to flee. Ostriches often live in the company of antelopes, giraffes and zebras.



What ostriches eat?

Just about anything…
The ostrich eats a lot of different things. Its menu mainly consists of grass, roots, seeds and leaves. Sometimes it will hunt for small animals like insects. Depending on the area the ostrich lives in it will eat what it can find. The ostrich can restrain from water for a very long time, whatever fluids the bird can extract from its food will be enough to live on. That is why they can survive in very dry areas. On The Curaçao Ostrich Farm the ostriches are fed with special pellets of ostrich food and alfalfa, a herb that is cultivated on the farm itself.

The digestion of an ostrich…
Sometimes ostriches swallow little stones or rocks. They do that on purpose. These stones and rocks serve as molar teeth. We, humans, grind our food with our back-teeth but ostriches do not have teeth . The stones and rocks grind the food in the ostrich’s stomach for better digestion.
There is a saying for people that can eat just about anything without getting stomach ache. Those people have ‘the digestion of an ostrich’.



What ostriches do?

Walking instead of flying…
The ostrich belongs to the family of walkers. In the course of time they forgot how to fly. Ostriches look like birds but instead of having strong wings they developped strong leggs and feet. Ostriches are far too heavy to be able to fly and their feathers are no longer fit for supporting them in the air. Other walkers are the rhea, the emu and the cassuary.

Flirting and dancing…
The male ostrich often has more than one female. But only one of them is the first lady. The other ones are his ‘by-sides’. To find a match or matches the male ostrich conducts a dance where the female ostriches are allowed to join in. This is called ‘displaying’. After the matching process the ostriches mate.



How ostriches live?

A lot of females , a lot of eggs…
All the male’s females lay their eggs in one nest. This will look like a sandpit. It will be the male ostrich who sits on the nest. He will do so for most parts of the day and night. The first lady takes over when it gets too hot and when she does she will make sure that her eggs are in the middle of the nest. The eggs of all the ‘by-sides’ will end up more on the outer edges of the pit. The middle of the nest is the warmest offering the eggs there the best circumstances to hatch.

The egg of an ostrich is enormous. It weighs as much as 25 chicken eggs. The shell is very thick and firm. Sometimes it takes days for a baby ostrich to break through it. After 46 days of sitting the baby ostrich is ready to get out. From then on they will grow a centimetre a day.

All mixed up…together!
Ostriches live in large groups. Families, couples, yougsters, elderly birds and single birds all live together. Young ostriches of different families are taken care of by all adult birds and are put together in one group, almost like a nursery.

More and more farm animals…
In earlier days the demand for ostrich feathers used to be very high. The feathers were particularly populair as luxurious decorations for women’s hats. In those days the first ostrich farms were started. And they still exist. Today, the farms breed ostriches for their leather, their feathers and their meat. More and more ostrich steak has become a populair dish among people. You can find ostrich farms in South Africa, Europe, The USA and on Curaçao and Aruba.



Something of a quick summary for last…

The latin term for ostrich: Struthio camelus (you probably always wondered about this)
Where: East and South Africa
Food: plant, treeleaves, grass, seeds and fruits.
Birthdays: ostriches celebrate approximately 40 birthdays.
Weight: males up to 150 kg, females up to 110 kg
Sittingtime: 46 days
Number of eggs: 5 to 11 eggs

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by Memento Vivi

You can download these coloring pictures by clicking on them. Then you can print and open them with Adobe Reader.