Struthio camelus

The common ostrich, or simply ostrich, is a species of flightless bird native to certain areas of Africa and is the largest living species of bird. The common ostrich is one of two extant species of ostriches, the only living members of the genus Struthio in the ratite group of birds. The other is the Somali ostrich, which has been recognised as a distinct species by BirdLife International since 2014, having been previously considered a distinctive subspecies of ostrich.

Struthio camelus

Yathin S Krishnappa · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
common ostrichPBDB
Sits inside
StruthioPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Struthio
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Struthio
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Struthio
Mass
100 kgWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 7.246 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 28 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 28 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 14 of 28 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 13 of 28 occurrences7.5–7.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.2–7.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.7–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–6.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.2–5.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.9–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–5.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.4–5.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.2–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.6–4.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.4–4.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.4–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–2.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences2.1–1.8 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences1.8–1.5 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences1.5–1.3 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences1.3–1.0 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences1.0–775 ka Mya — about 1.0 occurrences775 ka–516 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence516 ka–258 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence258 ka–0 Mya — about 17 occurrences2.58 Mya11.7 ka7.7 Mya0 Mya

28 occurrences of Struthio camelus 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

28 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

5 formations

Nubia — 16.25°N, 33.75°ENubia — 23.00°N, 25.50°EMbuga Clays — 4.03°S, 33.77°EVarswater — 32.96°S, 18.11°EPinjor — 30.85°N, 76.75°E

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The named rock units Struthio camelus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 21 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Struthio camelus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Struthio camelus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

383 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 27 sites for Struthio camelus, 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

18 references

Each of the 28 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. 6 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 camelus

Credit
Yathin S Krishnappa
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
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

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 itStruthio through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

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