Ostrich (Struthio camelus)

Together with tinamous, rheas, casowaries and kiwis, Ostrich belongs to the most primitive bird superorder Paleognatha due to the construction of their skull. On their skeleton, a very weak crista sterni was evolved and then, as a consequence, they have very weak flight muscles and cannot fly (except of tinamous, which are, nevertheless, not very good fliers).



Ostrich lives in Africa, but small populations were also introduced to some particular areas of Australia. It has a very typical sexual dimorphism in colour. Male has a very big penis in his cloaca and uses it during copulation. He usually copulates with more than one female, but the only one assists him during breeding their chicks. Adult Ostriches have very strong legs and so they can be dangerous also for the human. Despite it, they are frequently kept as farm animals and their products (meat, eggs, feathers) are further processed.

## Keywords
Together with tinamous, rheas, casowaries and kiwis, Ostrich belongs to the most primitive bird superorder Paleognatha due to the construction of their skull. On their skeleton, a very weak crista sterni was evolved and then, as a consequence, they have very weak flight muscles and cannot fly (except of tinamous, which are, nevertheless, not very good fliers).



Ostrich lives in Africa, but small populations were also introduced to some particular areas of Australia. It has a very typical sexual dimorphism in colour. Male has a very big penis in his cloaca and uses it during copulation. He usually copulates with more than one female, but the only one assists him during breeding their chicks. Adult Ostriches have very strong legs and so they can be dangerous also for the human. Despite it, they are frequently kept as farm animals and their products (meat, eggs, feathers) are further processed.