Move
Over, Big Bird!
In the past, you saw exotic animals at the zoo.
When you went to a farm, you saw common animals that
might ___1___ on your dinner table. Nowadays, the lines
have been blurred
and what was once considered wild is now a commercial
product that people eat and wear. The farming of
ostriches is a new trend that has made its way across
the globe. Although an ostrich's natural ___2___ is the
savannahs and deserts of Africa, it can survive
anywhere where sufficient food supplies can be found.
Ostriches are the world's largest and heaviest
birds. ___3___ flightless, they are
incredibly fast runners. The male
ostrich is black and white, while its female
counterpart is grayish brown and smaller
in size. In the wild, a male will have about six hens in
his flock.
While he mates with all of these hens, he selects one as
his main mate. This female puts her eggs in the middle
of the nest to ___4___ their survival over the other
hens'' eggs.
Nests are actually holes dug in the earth. ___5___
to popular belief, ostriches do not bury their heads in the
sand. Instead, they lay their bodies
atop the eggs and place their necks along the ground.
Both males and females incubate eggs, which can weigh
___6___ 1.5 kg and are the largest in the world. Males
also help care for chicks after they are born. However,
observers note that ostrich parents can be a bit
absent-minded
___7___ it comes to watching over their eggs. If left
unattended, other adult ostriches may roll the eggs from
the nest and even enjoy them as a snack. |