When overseas visitors travel to South Africa they will encounter several birds very unique to them because they don't have any relatives or similar species elsewhere.
From my experience, these are the birds we are most impressed with.
Bird families endemic to the African continent - let's dedicate a topic on the truly Africans
Ostriches - Struthionidae
is a family of flightless birds, containing the two extant species of ostrich: the Common Ostrich and Somali Ostrich, both in the genus Struthio. The common ostrich is the more widespread of the two living species, and is the largest living bird species.
Three living subspecies of Common ostrich (Struthio camelus) are recognized:
North African ostrich (S. c. camelus), also called the red-necked ostrich or Barbary ostrich
Lives in North Africa. Historically it was the most widespread subspecies, ranging from Ethiopia and Sudan in the east throughout the Sahel to Senegal and Mauritania in the west, and north to Egypt and southern Morocco, respectively. It has now disappeared from large parts of this range, and it only remains in 6 of the 18 countries where it originally occurred, leading some to consider it Critically Endangered. It is the largest subspecies, at 2.74 m in height and up to 154 kilograms in weight. The neck is pinkish-red, the plumage of males is black and white, and the plumage of females is grey.
Northern Africa: Algeria, Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo and Tunisia
Western Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal
South African ostrich (S. c. australis), also called the black-necked ostrich, Cape ostrich, or southern ostrich
Found south of the rivers Zambezi and Cunene. It is farmed for its meat, leather and feathers in the Little Karoo area of Cape Province.
Southern Africa: Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe
Masai ostrich (S. c. massaicus), also called the pink-necked ostrich or East African ostrich
It has some small feathers on its head, and its neck and thighs are pink. During the mating season, the male's neck and thighs become brighter. Its range is essentially limited to southern Kenya and eastern Tanzania and Ethiopia and parts of southern Somalia.
Eastern Africa: Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda
Arabian ostrich (S. c. syriacus), also known as the Syrian ostrich or Middle Eastern ostrich
Was formerly very common in the Arabian Peninsula, Syria,[25] and Iraq; it became extinct around 1966.
Somali Ostrich Struthio molybdophanes, also called the blue-necked ostrich
Found in southern Ethiopia, northeastern Kenya, and Somalia. The neck and thighs are grey-blue, and during the mating season, the male's neck and thighs become brighter and bluer. The females are more brown than those of other species. It generally lives in pairs or alone, rather than in flocks. Its range overlaps with S. c. massaicus in northeastern Kenya.
Northeastern Africa: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia
The ostrich is native to Africa, where it lives in groups across the continent, but a very small number of them also call outback South Australia home.
It's estimated that very few of the large birds, which can grow to be almost three metres tall, still roam the red centre.
The birds were introduced into South Australia in the 1890s, and then again in the 1970s, when attempts were made to farm them for feathers and meat.
However, most farms failed, and the flightless birds were released into the wild, where they have survived.
"One of the problems ostriches had in Australia was actually breeding well — they had a lot of infertility problems with the eggs," said SA Arid Lands' manager of scientific services Rob Brandle.
"Because they're quite a long-lived bird, they do survive in areas for a fair while and they're quite mobile as well."
Mr Brandle said the remaining ostriches that roam the outback are likely the same ostriches that were released from farms in the 1970s and 1980s.
He said the ostrich was able to survive in the Australian outback because the climate is similar to Africa's.
"Maybe we're a bit drier here overall, which is maybe why they don't do as well as something like emus," Mr Brandle said.
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
What have you done to the poor bird?
