The long spines which are seen in the wings of the common sort, are in this not observable,-nor is there any appearance of a tail. The plumage in general consists of a mixture of brown and grey, and the feathers are somewhat curled or bent at the ends in the natural state: the wings are so very short as to be totally useless for flight, and indeed, are scarcely to be distinguished from the rest of the plumage, were it not for their standing out a little. The bill is not greatly different from that of the common Cassowary but the horny appendage, or helmet on top of the head, in this species is totally wanting: the whole of the head and neck is also covered with feathers, except the throat and fore part of the neck about half way, which are not so well feathered as the rest whereas in the common Cassowary the head and neck are bare and carunculated as in the turkey. This is a species differing in many particulars from that generally known, and is a much larger bird, standing higher on its legs and having the neck longer than in the common one. The birds were first mentioned under the name of the "New Holland cassowary" in Arthur Phillip's Voyage to Botany Bay, published in 1789 with the following description: The birds were known on the eastern coast before 1788, when the first Europeans settled there. This was during an expedition led by Dutch captain Willem de Vlamingh who was searching for survivors of a ship that had gone missing two years earlier.
Taxonomy HistoryĮmus were first reported as having been seen by Europeans when explorers visited the western coast of Australia in 1696. The birds were known as murawung or birabayin to the local Eora and Darug inhabitants of the Sydney basin. In Victoria, some terms for the emu were Barrimal in the Dja Dja Wurrung language, myoure in Gunai, and courn in Jardwadjali. Another theory is that it comes from the word "ema", which is used in Portuguese to denote a large bird akin to an ostrich or crane. The etymology of the common name "emu" is uncertain, but is thought to have come from an Arabic word for large bird that was later used by Portuguese explorers to describe the related cassowary in Australia and New Guinea. Threats to their survival include predation of their eggs, roadkills, and fragmentation of their habitats. Despite this, some local populations are listed as endangered, with subspecies such as the Tasmanian emu going extinct by the 1800s.
The bird is sufficiently common for it to be rated as a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The bird features prominently in Indigenous Australian mythology. The emu is an important cultural icon of Australia, appearing on the coat of arms and various coins.
They reach full size after around six months, but can remain as a family unit until the next breeding season. The eggs hatch after around eight weeks, and the young are nurtured by their fathers. The male does the incubation during this process he hardly eats or drinks and loses a significant amount of weight. Females can mate several times and lay several clutches of eggs in one season. They drink infrequently, but take in copious amounts of water when the opportunity arises.īreeding takes place in May and June, and fighting among females for a mate is common. Emus can travel great distances, and when necessary can sprint at 50 km/h (31 mph) they forage for a variety of plants and insects, but have been known to go for weeks without eating. The emu's range covers most of mainland Australia, but the Tasmanian, Kangaroo Island and King Island subspecies became extinct after the European settlement of Australia in 1788.Įmus are soft-feathered, brown, flightless birds with long necks and legs, and can reach up to 1.9 metres (6.2 ft) in height. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. The emu ( / ˈ iː m j uː/) ( Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the second-largest living bird by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. Call of a female emu at the ZOOM Erlebniswelt Gelsenkirchen in Germany