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  Profile

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  In flight

Flightless Club

Emu

Dromaius novaehollandiae

• uncommon
• 48 km/h
• Least Concern

Six feet tall and can't fly, but can outrun you. Won a war against Australia.

Population

~630,000-725,000 (1992 census, BirdLife/Wikipedia-sourced); believed roughly stable on mainland since European settlement, though no more recent global census was retrievable this session

Habitat

Savanna woodlands, sclerophyll forest, and semi-arid scrubland; scarce in dense rainforest, heavily populated areas, and very arid zones (<600mm annual rainfall)

Fun fact

Male emus alone incubate the eggs for about 48-56 days, during which they do not eat, drink, or defecate, surviving on stored body fat and losing a substantial portion of their body weight.

Range

Endemic to mainland Australia, occurring across most of the continent; three island subspecies (Tasmania, King Island, Kangaroo Island) went extinct following European settlement

Diet

Omnivorous forager taking seeds, fruits, and shoots of plants such as Acacia and Casuarina, grasses, and invertebrates including grasshoppers, beetles, and moth larvae; swallows stones to aid digestion

Size

1.9 m

Lifespan

20 years