How tall is an ostrich?
1312499#32
The ostrich is found throughout Africa, but the most handsome specimens came from the Little Karoo, where the dry weather, but plentiful water in the streams formed an ideal habitat for these large, flightless birds. Here, they grow to over 2 m in height, and weigh over 100 kg. The male’s feathers have been prized by many cultures in Africa, Europe, and Asia over thousands of years. In the 1860s, a farmer in the Graaff-Reinet district was apparently the first person to demonstrate that the ostrich could successfully be domesticated, bred in captivity, and the eggs hatched in incubators, while still producing the magnificent feathers. This idea was quickly adopted by farmers in the Little Karoo, where they started growing lucerne as the birds’ favorite food. During 1880, no less than 74,000 kg of feathers were exported, and in 1904, it passed the 210,000-kg mark.
The First World War brought about a slump in the ostrich feather market, but the industry recovered in later years, when not only the feathers were sought after, but also ostrich leather, and its meat, which is very tasty, and a major export item. Today, several farms can be visited by tourists, near Oudtshoorn, the center of the ostrich industry.
Karoo
22544#4
Common ostriches usually weigh from , or as much as two adult humans. The Masai ostriches of East Africa ("S. c. massaicus") averaged in males and in females, while the nominate subspecies, the North African ostrich ("S. c. camelus"), was found to average in unsexed adults. Exceptional male ostriches (in the nominate subspecies) can weigh up to . At sexual maturity (two to four years), male common ostriches can be from in height, while female common ostriches range from tall. New chicks are fawn in colour, with dark brown spots. During the first year of life, chicks grow at about per month. At one year of age, common ostriches weigh approximately . Their lifespan is up to 40–45 years.
Common ostrich
22544#9
The common ostrich's sternum is flat, lacking the keel to which wing muscles attach in flying birds. The beak is flat and broad, with a rounded tip. Like all ratites, the ostrich has no crop, and it also lacks a gallbladder. They have three stomachs, and the caecum is long. Unlike all other living birds, the common ostrich secretes urine separately from faeces. All other birds store the urine and faeces combined in the coprodeum, but the ostrich stores the faeces in the terminal rectum. They also have unique pubic bones that are fused to hold their gut. Unlike most birds, the males have a copulatory organ, which is retractable and long. Their palate differs from other ratites in that the sphenoid and palatal bones are unconnected.
Common ostrich
5720637#5
After the rise of Islam, the Arabian ostrich came to represent wealth and elegance; ostrich hunting became a popular pastime for the rich and noble (if slaughtered properly, ostrich meat is "halaal" to Muslims) and eggs, feathers and leather were extensively used in handicraft. Arabian ostrich products, as well as live birds, were exported as far as China. A Tang Dynasty source states that the "camel bird" inhabiting Arabia is
"four "chi" and more in height, its feet resembling those of a camel; its neck is very strong, and men are able to ride on its back...". The Arabian ostrich was also discussed in Mesopotamian scholarly writings from the time of the Baghdad Caliphate, such as Zakariya al-Qazwini's cosmography "'Aja'ib al-makhluqat wa-ghara'ib al-mawjudat", the "Kitab al-Hayawan" ("Book of Animals") of Al-Jahiz, or Ibn al-Manzur's dictionary "Lisan al-Arab".
Arabian ostrich
20598041#19
The largest living bird, a member of the Struthioniformes, is the common ostrich ("Struthio camelus"), from the plains of Africa and Arabia. A large male ostrich can reach a height of and weigh over . A mass of has been cited for the common ostrich but no wild ostriches of this weight have been verified. Eggs laid by the ostrich can weigh and are the largest eggs in the world today.
The largest bird in the fossil record may be the extinct elephant birds ("Aepyornis") of Madagascar, which were related to the ostrich. They exceeded in height and . The last of the elephant birds became extinct about 300 years ago. Of almost exactly the same upper proportions as the largest elephant birds was "Dromornis stirtoni" of Australia, part of a 26,000-year-old group called mihirungs of the family Dromornithidae. The largest carnivorous bird was "Brontornis", an extinct flightless bird from South America which reached a weight of and a height of about . The tallest carnivorous bird was "Kelenken", which could reach 3 to 3.2 meters in height and 220 to 250 kilograms. The tallest bird ever was the giant moa ("Dinornis maximus"), part of the moa family of New Zealand that went extinct around 1500 AD. This particular species of moa stood up to tall, but weighed about half as much as a large elephant bird or mihirung due to its comparatively slender frame.
Largest organisms
22544#8
The feathers lack the tiny hooks that lock together the smooth external feathers of flying birds, and so are soft and fluffy and serve as insulation. Common ostriches can tolerate a wide range of temperatures. In much of their habitat, temperatures vary as much as 40 °C (72 °F) between night and day. Their temperature control relies in part on behavioural thermoregulation. For example, they use their wings to cover the naked skin of the upper legs and flanks to conserve heat, or leave these areas bare to release heat. The wings also function as stabilizers to give better maneuverability when running. Tests have shown that the wings are actively involved in rapid braking, turning and zigzag maneuvers. They have 50–60 tail feathers, and their wings have 16 primary, four alular and 20–23 secondary feathers.
Common ostrich
22544#44
The common ostrich is a xeric animal, due to the fact that it lives in habitats that are both dry and hot. Water is scarce in dry and hot environment, and this poses a challenge to the ostrich's water consumption. Also the ostrich is a ground bird and cannot fly to find water sources, which poses a further challenge. Because of their size, common ostriches cannot easily escape the heat of their environment; however, they dehydrate less than their small bird counterparts because of their small surface area to volume ratio. Hot, arid habitats pose osmotic stress, such as dehydration, which triggers the common ostrich’s homeostatic response to osmoregulate.
Common ostrich
34255387#2
The enzyme belongs to the group of oxidoreductases according to the EC classification and is dependent on FAD as cofactor, thus it was classified as an external flavoprotein monooxygenase (designated as type E). It forms a two-component system with a reductase (StyB, StyA2B). The reductase utilizes solely NADH to reduce the FAD, which is then transferred to the styrene monooxygenase (StyA, StyA1). Two types of that enzyme are described so far: StyA/StyB (designated E1), first described from "Pseudomonas" species, and StyA1/StyA2B (designated E2), first described from Actinobacteria. The E1-type is more abundant in nature and comprises a single monooxygenase (StyA) supported by a single reductase (StyB), whereas the E2-type has a major monooxygenase (StyA1) which is supported by fusion protein of a monooxygenase and reductase (StyA2B). The latter one is the source of reduced FAD for the monooxygenase subunits and has some side activity as a monooxygenase. So far all styrene monooxygenases perform enantioselective epoxidations of styrene and chemically analogous compounds, which makes them interesting for biotechnological applications.
Styrene monooxygenase
55853074#1
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49690912#0
ㅜ is one of the Korean hangul. The Unicode for ㅜ is U+315C.
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