The Wonderful World of Emus!

Introduction

The emu is an large flightless bird that looks a lot like the ostrich. It has very fine feathers that sometimes resemble hair, giving the bird a furry look. The emu can reach heights of up to six feet tall, and belongs to a group of birds called ratites, which are large, flightless birds.

Lifestyles of the Tall and Fluffy

Emus like to eat a variety of things, including leaves, fruit, seeds, and insects. They forage for these things in the deserts and woodlands of Australia, where they live. In the spring, emus will pair off to lay a clutch of 8 to 10 4-inch long avocado-colored eggs. The male then incubates them for two months. When the chicks hatch, they are black-and-white striped, and grow extremely fast: almost a foot a month!

Emus are very playful and affectionate, and they love to run and play together. Often they will jump up and down like pogo sticks and fall on the ground to roll over like dogs, only to jump up and run around again.

A Brief Emu History

In 1932, the Australian government began a campaign to exterminate "pesky" emus in Australia by mass destruction with machine guns. Somehow, the emus survived and now have a steady population in the wild. However, emus and emu relatives on neighboring islands such as Tasmania did not fare as well and today these islands support no emus.
Several years after the emu-war the Australian government declared the emu the national bird, and it currently appears on the Australian flag along with the kangaroo.

Interesing Emu Facts

Edible Emus?

Yes, it's true. You can now go to your local gourmet food store and purchase.....emu steaks! Emu has been praised widely as an edible meat because it has the taste of beef, but contains less than half the fat of normal red meats. Many emu ranchers believe that the emu will be the food of the future, as they are also very easy to raise and care for.

Emus also have other places in the economic world. Their leather is said to be extremely soft, and their feathers are used in dusters used to clean the insides of machinery. Also, emus produce an oil now commerically used in many beauty-care products, said to make skin look younger and feel smoother.

Emus in the News

Unfortunately, the emu market has not taken off in the past couple years as was predicted, and many farmers who went into emu farming are now having financial difficulty. In some cases, emu abuse and neglect has resulted.

The worst case was an emu factory farm in Orland, California, where 600 emus were left to starve after their owner went bankrupt. They were crowded into small pens with no clean water and no food, and by the time they were discovered several bodies already lay rotting on the ground. Luckily, the Humane Farming Assosciation offered to take care of the animals. They were taken to the HFA's Farm Animal Refuge where they will spend the rest of their 30-year long lives.

At the Refuge the California emus will join 80-some emus from Texas. These emus were victims of a similar situation, but were lucky to get out alive: 22 of their companions were beaten to death with baseball bats by their owners, who were 'trying to take out their frustration.'

But whatever troubles the emus have faced they have nothing to worry about now that they are at the refuge. Here they will recieve care and attention, plenty of good food, and sunny green pastures for ever and ever. Hooray!

If you'd like to help out, read more about the Humane Farming Association here.

This was written by Bradley Kennedy, age 14.