like a bird

When touring the Garden Route along South Africa’s southern coast, I stopped at Oudtshoorn and visited the Safari Ostrich Show Farm. It was an unforgettable experience.
The arid countryside resembles the Australian outback. Instead of sheep there are innumerable ostriches roaming far into the distance. What a perfect farm animal for such a climate! Every part of the bird is used – leather, meat, feathers and oil .
The ostrich is the largest bird in the world. The male has black body feathers and fluffy white wing tips whereas the female is a uniform brown colour.
They can live to be 70 years old and mate for life. A breeding pair may produce 90 eggs in a year. About 15 eggs are kept in the nest and the rest are transferred to incubators for reliable hatching. These huge eggs take six weeks to hatch. The eggshell is 2-3 mm thick and is so strong that you can stand on the eggs without fear of breaking. Chicks take half a day to break free. A mother bird will look after as many as 80 chicks.