Explore ostriches in Kidepo valley national park the strongest and biggest bird; Ostriches in Uganda have long necks, small heads and huge long legs with 2 pointed figures. Having a safari to Kidepo valley national park with Mirama hills safaris will give you a chance to see these birds in their natural habitat. Visitors to the park have testified how they have enjoyed viewing the ostrich in the park. Situated in the north-eastern part of Uganda, Kidepo valley national park is one of the best places for wildlife and birding safaris
An Ostrich is a huge flightless bird inherent to Africa and one o f the two extant species of ostriches, the only lining members of the genus struthio in the ratite order of birds. It is distinctive in its appearance with a small head and wings, a long neck and legs with massive two large forward pointing toes with a body size of 1.7 to 2.8m and weighs up to 150 kg. The male ostriches are black with white wings as well as tail feathers the female ones have brownish grey color with the legs always brighter with pink necks during breeding. They possess very large eyes measuring almost 4.5 cm across allowing them to sport predator from far distance predators like cheetahs, lions and hyenas
Ostriches walk at an average of 3.7 to 4.2km/hour! However in case of a warning sign of predators threatening it or its eggs the bird can sprint at a traffic speed of 58km/h even can go up to 70km/h the fastest land speed of any bird on the earth? So on your wildlife safari in the pearl of Africa uganda to Kidepo valley national park or Pian Upe game reserve make sure you don’t get it worried when you come across and very close to its eggs or else be ready to sprint at a faster speed.
The Ostriches are the world’s largest living bird and lays the largest eggs of all birds in uganda only found in Karamoja region that is in Kidepo valley national park, Pian Upe game reserve, Bokora game reserve and Matheniko game reserve one of the distant and rewarding uganda wildlife safari destinations far northeastern part of the country.
Ostriches are generally silent but during mating season, they display a range of roars, booms and hisses. The male bird is known for its booming calls that can be heard over 1.2km away. They are very strong birds and can harm its predators like the lions, cheetahs and even human being by just kicking and can even cause harm some times.
Ostriches like dust bathing and sometimes you may find them burying their heads in the sand while the rest of the body is seen. The ostriches are the world’s largest and strongest bird.
An ostrich lays up to 14 to 15 eggs a month, each egg laid after every two days especially during the dry months of the year, usually between February and June. The preparation of the laying ground is done by the male ostrich as it digs a hole of about 1meter to 1.2 meter wide 1 foot deep then later fills it with lake sand. This helps them to generate warmth that would enable hatching successfully when the eggs are laid.
The ostriches have a complex breeding system with the major and minor birds ably laying eggs in the same nest. Usually one major and 5-6 minor lay an average of 25 eggs in the same nest, with incubation period, the major hen/ female incubates during the day while the cock/ male takes its turn during the night After this routine for about 6weeks the chicks hatched and leave the nest after 4days, they fully mature at the age of three to four years.
Ostriches are omnivores and therefore feed on things like locusts, seeds, flowers, fruits and swallow small stone, sand and pebbles. However they do not have teeth therefore swallow pebbles to grind their food.
The ostrich can go without drinking water for several days serving on metabolic water and moisture ingested in roots, seeds and insects.
The ostriches are afraid of the Egyptian vulture as the major predators which prey on the ostrich’s eggs, each vulture can eat at least seven and even more eggs at a time, and these vultures’ uses stones to break ostrich’s eggs and because of this it is called the tool using Egyptian Vultures. The lions and the cheetahs are also predators to the ostriches itself in the wild.
Kidepo valley national park is known as one of the best wildernesses in Africa and a surprisingly distant Uganda safari destination where no one should miss, Mirama hills safaris we are planning you a safari to uganda, don’t hesitate to visit this wilderness filled with unique wild species.
