Nature and Adventure Animalia Kingdom | Aves (Bird) | Emu or Dromaius novaehollandiae

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Animalia Kingdom | Aves (Bird) | Emu or Dromaius novaehollandiae
Written by Shirley T   
Wednesday, 08 April 2009 06:24



Emu or the binomial name called Dromaius novaehollandiae is a flightless bird! Being the largest bird native in Australia and the second largest extant bird by weight in the world after ostrich. Emu used to be the wheat plantation's greatest pest. Mass hunting of Emus was performed to control wheat plantation and now resulted as a threat to this species.
An emu with a young kangaroo
Besides its size, Emu can be recognized by its soft-feathered of brown color and comes of height that can reach up to 2 meters.


Found in most states of Australia and predominently spotted in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Southern Australia. Highly populated in the areas of sclerophyll forest and savanna woodland, Emus depend on berries, fruits, grains, grasses and insects as food.
A pair of Emus or Dromaius novaehollandiae
Winter of Southern Hemisphere usually falls on May and June. This is the season whereby emus will mate. The pair will mate every day or every alternate day and female will lay an average of 11 eggs a day or two after mating. They eggs are greenish black in color and are solely incubated by the cock bird. Incubation period is about 56 days and male bird will stop incunating shortly before hatching. You may be surprise that the cock bird is fasting during brooding period and solely depends on his body fat.
A pair of emus are mating!

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