Struthio

Ostriches are large flightless birds. Two living species are recognised: the common ostrich, native to large parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa.

Struthio

PaleoNeolitic (montage creator) Diego Delso ninara · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
ostrichPBDB
Sits inside
StruthionidaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 100 occurrencesMiocene — about 28 of 100 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 21 of 100 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 38 of 100 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 3 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 3 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 4 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 7 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 9 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 12 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 13 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 23 occurrences11.63 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

100 occurrences of Struthio on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

100 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

28 formations

Olduvai — 2.99°S, 35.35°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 34.32°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ENubia — 16.25°N, 33.75°ENawata — 2.90°N, 36.05°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EBeglia — 34.00°N, 8.00°ENubia — 23.00°N, 25.50°EMbuga Clays — 4.03°S, 33.77°EBredasdorp & Varswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°EMuluk — 30.42°N, 30.25°EUpper Koru Series — 0.23°S, 35.34°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EC1/LR — 33.58°N, 7.65°WNawata or Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EBou Hanifia — 35.30°N, 0.10°WKhapry — 47.24°N, 39.71°EAgha Jari — 34.48°N, 44.63°EChersonian — 47.25°N, 28.69°EGar El Muluk — 30.37°N, 30.32°ENikiti — 40.23°N, 23.70°EAït Kandoula — 31.06°N, 6.56°W

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The named rock units Struthio has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 54 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Struthio and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Struthio and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,154 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 96 sites for Struthio, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

71 references

Each of the 100 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 59 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Struthio

Credit
PaleoNeolitic (montage creator) Diego Delso ninara
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Struthio camelus · l-jz:JZ:48

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itStruthionidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758