| About Emu's |
The Emu (pronounciation: ēm’ū), Dromaius novaehollandiae native to Australia, is the largest bird and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is also the second-largest flightless bird in the world, after its ratite relative, the Ostrich. The soft-feathered, brown birds reach up to 2 m in height and weigh between 30 and 45 kilograms. The Emu is common over most of mainland Australia, although it avoids heavily-populated areas, dense forest and very arid areas. Emus can travel great distances at a fast, economical trot and, if necessary, can sprint at 50 km/hour (31 mph) for some distance at a time.They are opportunistically nomadic, and may travel long distances to find food; they feed on a variety of plants and insects. Emus have brown to grey-brown plumage of shaggy appearance; the shafts and the tips of the feathers are black. Solar radiation is absorbed by the tips, and the loose-packed inner plumage insulates the skin. The resultant heat is prevented from flowing to the skin by the insulation provided by the coat, allowing the bird to be active during the heat of the day. A unique feature of the Emu feather is its double rachis emerging from a single shaft. The sexes are similar in appearance. On very hot days, Emus pant to maintain their body temperature, their lungs work as evaporative coolers and, unlike some other species, the resulting low levels of carbon dioxide in the blood do not appear to cause alkalosis. For normal breathing in cooler weather, they have large, multifolded nasal passages. Cool air warms as it passes through into the lungs, extracting heat from the nasal region. On exhalation, the Emu's cold nasal turbinates condense moisture back out of the air and absorb it for reuse. Emus live in most habitats across Australia, although they are most common in areas of sclerophyll forest and savanna woodland, and least common in populated and very arid areas. Emus are largely solitary, and while they can form enormous flocks, this is atypical social behaviour that arises from a common need to move towards food sources. Emus have been shown to travel long distances to reach best feeding areas. In Western Australia, Emu movements follow a distinct seasonal pattern — north in summer and south in winter. On the east coast their wanderings do not appear to follow a pattern. Emus are also able to swim when necessary.
Their calls consist of loud booming, drumming and grunting sounds that can be heard up to two kilometres away. The booming sound is created in an inflatable neck sac. Emus forage in a diurnal pattern. They eat a variety of native and introduced plant species; the type of plants eaten depends of seasonal availability. They also eat insects, including grasshoppers and crickets, ladybirds, soldier and saltbush caterpillars, Bogong and cotton-boll moth larvae and ants. In Western Australia, food preferences have been observed in travelling Emus: they eat seeds from Acacia aneura until it rains, after which they eat fresh grass shoots and caterpillars; in winter they feed on the leaves of Cassia pods; in spring, they feed on grasshoppers and quandong fruit. Emus may serve as an important agent for the dispersal of large viable seeds, which could contribute to the maintenance of floral biodiversity.
The Emu has a prominent place in Australian Aboriginal mythology, including a creation myth of the Yuwaalaraay and other groups in NSW who say that the sun was made by throwing an Emu's egg into the sky; the bird features in numerous aetiological stories told across a number of Aboriginal groups. Extract from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu |
