Common ostrich
Amazing fact
An ostrich sometimes lies on the ground with its neck stretched out.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
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An ostrich sometimes lies on the ground with its neck stretched out.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Common ostrich
- Scientific name
- Struthio camelus
- Japanese name
- ダチョウ
- Group
- Birds
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Struthioniformes
- Family
- Struthionidae
- Genus
- Struthio
Where the name “Common ostrich” comes from
The Japanese name dachō uses a character chosen to mean a bird resembling a camel.
日本平動物園It is a very large bird of dry, open grasslands in Africa. It cannot fly, but it runs very fast.
Males have black feathers and females have gray ones. It can also fight enemies by kicking forward with its feet.
Males and females work together to keep the eggs warm, and there are reports that females mostly do it by day and males at night.
How the Common ostrich lives
They eat grass seed heads, flowers and seeds, and sometimes locusts. They are sometimes found with grazing animals such as zebras. They make a simple nest by digging a shallow hollow in the ground.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web日本平動物園Basic data
- Size
- 175–275 cm
- Weight
- 120–180 kg
- Lifespan
- about 40 years
- Diet
- Plants, insects and other foods
- Range
- East Africa
Where the Common ostrich has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ダチョウ
- 简体中文
- 鸵鸟
- 繁體中文
- 鴕鳥
- 한국어
- 타조
- Español
- Avestruz
- Français
- Autruche d'Afrique
- Deutsch
- Strauß
- Português (Brasil)
- Avestruz
- Italiano
- Struzzo comune
- हिन्दी
- शुतुरमुर्ग
- العربية
- نعامة شائعة
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Burung unta
- Tiếng Việt
- Đà điểu châu Phi
- Русский
- Африканский страус
- Türkçe
- Deve kuşu
- ไทย
- นกกระจอกเทศ
- বাংলা
- উটপাখি
- اردو
- شترمرغ
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 日本平動物園 — ダチョウChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Struthio camelusChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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