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Series 10

Big birds

www.dailytelegraph.com.au/classmate

here was a time when big birds ruled the Earth.

These flightless descendants of dinosaurs
had speed and agility, strong necks and
strong beaks to crush their prey. As
time moved on these large predatory birds
were replaced in the food chain by mammals
but some big birds still exist today. Our
modern-day big birds are not hunters like
their ancestors, feeding instead on leaves
and berries, but they have retained much of
their strength, speed and size.

Dromornithids

What is a bird?
Like mammals, birds are warm-bloooded vertebrates (animals with a
backbone). However, birds are distinguished by unique characteristics
that make them the most accomplished of all flying animals. Scientists
have come to believe birds are living dinosaurs, having evolved from avian
dinosaurs which, unlike their non-avian counterparts,
were never wiped out. For this reason birds have
developed very differently from other animals.
They have wings, beaks, feathers, hollow
bones and a highly efficient respiratory
system. They also produce their young in
eggs, which are usually laid in a protective
nest and nurtured until they are mature
enough to hatch. Birds vary greatly in size,
from the tiny hummingbird, which weighs
less than 30g, to the giant ostrich, which
weighs up to 160kg (see Ostrich), but even
the ostrich would be outsized by the big
birds of earlier times.

An emu chick hatching

Ratites
The ratites are large, flightless birds that have no ridge on their sternum.
It is to this ridge that wing muscles are attached in birds that can fly. It
is thought ratites evolved from flying ancestors whose breast muscles
and wings degenerated as they increased in size and weight and improved
their ability to run from danger. Living examples of ratites are the
African ostrich and the Australian emu.

Largest living bird

Ostrich Struthio camelus
The ostrich is the largest living bird, growing up to
2.8m tall and weighing in at up to 160kg. Although it is
flightless (see Ratites), the ostrich is known for its
speed, running up to 70km/h for as long as 30
minutes. The ostrich lives on the deserts and plains of
Africa, however it is farmed in many parts of the world
for its meat, leather and feathers. Its usual diet is
plants but the ostrich will sometimes eat lizards
and turtles when they are found.
Along with a featherless neck
and legs, an ostrich has
long, thick eyelashes,
which are almost 5cm in
diameter, to help
protect its eyes
from sand.
A running
ostrich

A recreation of a
moa pictured with
two Maori hunters,
circa 1906

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Also known as mihirung, these were

Australias prehistoric birds. Up to 3m tall
and 500kg in weight, the mihirung lived in
the early Eocene Epoch, 50 million years ago.
Their structure was similar to that of an emu
and included powerful legs, reduced wing
size and no ridge on the sternum. Despite these
shared characteristics, scientists believe they
are not closely related to emus or cassowaries
but are more likely to be related to waterfowl.
For all the mihirungs size, it is believed they
were herbivores as they had no hook on the
end of their beak and no talons for grasping prey.
Mihirungs had hollow bones but were flightless.

Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae

Our largest native bird is the emu, which grows up to 1.9m
tall and can weigh almost 60kg. The emu lives in flocks
with dozens of birds and feeds
on seeds, berries, grasses and
leaves. It has also been known to
eat insects including grasshoppers
and caterpillars. Found all across
Australia, the emu is generally
regarded as a friendly local bird,
however in areas of cereal farming
it can be regarded as a serious pest.

The terror bird was flightless but highly predatory.

Standing almost 3m tall and weighing 360kg, this giant
roamed South America from 27 million years ago until
about 5000 years ago. Its beak was shaped much like an
eagles and was ideal for tearing meat. Its believed it was
an ambush predator, pouncing out at its prey from a
hiding place. Its great weight would have made long
chases difficult, unlike todays ostrich.

A male emu caring for his two

chicks. The male incubates the
eggs and raises the chicks.

Cassowary
Casuarius casuarius

Phorusrhacos, the terror bird

Big birds in mythology

Extinct birds

Thunderbird
In the mythology of the North American
Indian, the thunderbird is a powerful spirit
in the form of a bird and said to cause storms
as it flies. Lightning was believed to flash
from its beak and eyes and the beating of
its wings was thought to arouse thunder.
It is depicted as large and colourful, with
horns on its head and teeth in its beak.

Elephant bird
Aepyornis
The elephant bird was a giant
species native to Madagascar that
became extinct about the 1600s.
These flightless birds are thought
to have resembled monstrous
ostriches, with the largest reaching
heights of up to 3m and weighing
as much as 455kg. Their eggs
are the largest single cells in the
animal kingdom and can hold up
to eight litres of liquid. The largest
of the elephant birds, aepyornis
maximus, was also the heaviest of
all known birds. Scientists believe
habitat destruction was a likely
cause of its extinction.

Roc
The
elephant
bird

Chicken

A Gustave Dore illustration of Sinbad the sailor encountering a

roc chick hatching, from the book One Thousand And One Nights

Cassowary

Moa Dinornis
Ostrich

Size comparison

Elephant bird

3m
Moa
Ostrich

Moa

A thunderbird depicted on a
Native American totem pole

The roc is an enormous legendary bird of prey popularised by

stories told by Marco Polo and in the tale of Sinbad the sailor.
Often said to be white and shaped like an eagle, the roc was
thought to have been able to carry off and eat elephants.
Scientists say the origin of the myth may lie in embellishments
of the eagles ability to carry away a newborn lamb as its prey.
The legend is known to both Eastern and Western traditions.

Emu

This large flightless bird inhabited the

grasslands and forests of New
Zealand until the 1700s. It was
a herbivore and its great height
of up to 3m allowed it to source its
food from higher in the trees than
other grazing animals could reach.
The female was 1.5 times larger
and almost three times heavier
than the male. Scientists believe
the moas neck probably
projected forwards, like a
kiwi, rather than upwards as
usually depicted.
It was hunted to
extinction by native
Maori tribesmen
before Europeans
arrived.

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki in
Dinosaurs Arent Dead

Australian big birds

Terror birds
Phorusrhacos, Brontornis

Prehistoric birds

Over the last few decades,

weve slowly come to the
amazing realisation that
birds not only evolved from
the dinosaurs but in fact
birds are dinosaurs

2m

1m

Phorusrhacos

The second largest bird in Australia

is the cassowary, which grows up to
1.7m tall and weighs up to 70kg. The
cassowary lives in the rainforests of
Northern Queensland and has a diet
of fallen fruit but has been known
to eat small invertebrates. These
flightless, brightly coloured
birds have a protective casque,
or horny growth, on their head
and neck wattles that can
change colour according to
the birds mood. Cassowaries
can pose a threat to humans
because of their powerful
legs and sharp claws. The
adults are solitary when
not breeding.
A cassowary. Classified
as endangered, it is
restricted to rainforests
in North Queensland

Wandering
albatross

Did you know?

n The popular notion that an ostrich hides its head
in the sand when frightened is a myth. It stems
from the fact that when threatened an ostrich will
sometimes lay its body on the ground and use rocks
to hide its head. To a distant observer this may look
like the ostrich has its head in the ground.
n Emus are extremely inquisitive and easily
attracted by strange behaviour or movements.
This is why they seem so friendly when they
encounter humans at animal parks.
n The wandering albatross, native to Australia,
has the largest wingspan of any bird. It can
measure up to 3.5m.
n The study of birds is called ornithology. This
derives from the Greek words ornithos, meaning
bird, and logos, meaning knowledge.
n In 2006 a school student discovered bones
of a bird that were 15 million years old in the
Patagonia region of Argentina. The skull was
almost one metre long.
n The Yuwaalaraay people
and other Aboriginal groups
in NSW believe the sun was
made by throwing an
emus egg into
the sky.
n The ostrich only
has two toes on each
foot and can live up to 70 years.
n The male emu cares for eggs during
incubation and for up to eight months
after hatching. Emus have been
extinct in Tasmania since 1850.
n Measuring up to one
metre long, the wedgetailed eagle is Australias
largest living bird of prey
and one of the largest
eagles in the world.
Wedge-tailed eagle

Sources and further study

n A nimal, The Definitive Visual Guide, by David Burnie,
Dorling Kindersley (DK) Limited
nW
 alking With The Beasts, A Prehistoric Safari,
Tim Haines, BBC
n R iversleigh, The Story Of Animals In Ancient
Rainforests Of Inland Australia, by Michael Archer,
Suzanne Hand, Henk Godthelp, Reed Books
n T he World Book Encyclopedia, World Book Inc
n E ncyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica Inc
nD
 inosaurs Arent Dead, The Shocking Story Of
Dinosaur Evolution, by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki,
Pan Macmillan Australia
n A ustralian Beasts, ABC Science,
abc.net.au/science/ausbeasts/
n F ive Of The Largest Birds In History, Scienceray,
scienceray.com/biology/zoology/five-of-thelargest-birds-in-history/
n A nimals, National Geographic, animals.
nationalgeographic.com/animals/
?source=NavAniHome
nM
 agnificent Mihirungs: The Colossal Flightless Birds
Of The Australian Dreamtime, by Peter F. Murray and
Patricia Vickers-Rich, Indiana University Press
nM
 ythical Creatures exhibition, Australian National
Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour

Elephant
bird

Egg sizes

Cassowary

Emu

Adult human

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Editor: Troy Lennon Words: Dannielle Elms Graphics: Paul Leigh and Will Pearce