Emus

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Emus
Great Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae)

Great Emu ( Dromaius novaehollandiae )

Systematics
Row : Land vertebrates (Tetrapoda)
Class : Birds (aves)
Subclass : Great Pine Birds (Palaeognathae)
Order : Casuariiformes
Family : Casuariidae
Genre : Emus
Scientific name
Dromaius
Vieillot , 1816

The emus ( Dromaius ) are a genus of flightless ratites from Australia . In addition to the well-known Great Emu, the genus includes three subspecies that have been extinct since the mid-19th century and that lived on Tasmania , King Island and Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia .

features

Emus are large birds that can reach heights between 1.6 and 1.9 meters, weigh between 30 and 45 kilograms, have very strong legs and - like all ratites except ostriches - have three-toed feet. The head and neck are only sparsely feathered. The skin of the face is black and blue, the throat pouch is inflatable. Basically, emus live rather solitary. The breeding season falls in the Australian winter. The clutch size varies between five and fifteen eggs. These are laid with a laying interval of two to four days. Only the males hatch the chicks, which hatch after almost 2 months, and then raise them for about half a year. Sometimes two males take care of the offspring together, form a large nest with over 20 eggs, take turns to breed and raise the chicks together. Males with young animals in particular show aggressive behavior, also towards their mother. Emus are herbivores.

Systematics

Map of Southeast Australia and Tasmania with former coastlines and distribution areas of various Emu subspecies

The closest relatives of the emus are the cassowaries , with which they are united in a common family Casuariidae . The emus genus includes the recent emu with three extinct subspecies and two extinct species from the Miocene and Pliocene :

  • Great emu ( D. novaehollandiae ), Australia
    • † Kangaroo Island Emu ( D. novaehollandiae baudinianus ), Kangaroo Island
    • † Tasmanian Emu ( D. novaehollandiae diemenensis ), Tasmania, was probably not a separate species, but a subspecies of the Great Emus.
    • † Black Emu ( D. novaehollandiae minor ), King Island
  • † Dromaius arleyekweke
  • † Dromaius ocypus

literature

  • Peter J. Higgins, Stephen Marchant (Eds.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds, Vol. 1: Ratites to Ducks . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1990, ISBN 0-19-553068-3 .

Web links

Commons : Dromaius novaehollandiae  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Single receipts

  1. ^ Higgins, p. 47.
  2. ^ "In Emus and Greater Rheas - all incubation and chick-rearing is performed by males without any help of females:" (Bagemihl, Bruce: Biological Exuberance. Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity , New York 2000, ISBN 0-312-25377- X (= Bagemihl), p. 622).
  3. ↑ "Male Emus .. sometimes coparent". (Bagemihl, p. 623)
  4. ^ IOC World Bird List: Ratites: Ostriches to Tinamous
  5. ↑ Adam M. Yates; Trevor H. Worthy (2019). A diminutive species of emu (Casuariidae: Dromaiinae) from the late Miocene of the Northern Territory, Australia . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. e1665057. doi: 10.1080 / 02724634.2019.1665057
  6. ↑ Miller, AH (1963). Fossil ratite birds of the late Tertiary of South Australia . Records of the South Australian Museum. 14: 413-420.