Emus are the largest flightless birds on Earth, native to Australia, and have evolved remarkable adaptations for survival in the continent's harsh arid environments. These ancient nomads can travel up to 25 km daily, spotting thunderstorms from 100 km away to find food and water. Male emus exhibit extraordinary parental care, incubating eggs for up to 56 days while fasting, and raising chicks that learn to forage, swim, and navigate the landscape. Despite facing predators like dingoes, eagles, and the perentie lizard, emus have developed sophisticated survival strategies including camouflage eggs, ultraviolet vision, and the ability to lose half their body weight while still walking. They play a crucial ecological role as the most important seed dispersers in Australian plains, with their digestive systems retaining seeds for up to 100 days, enabling one-third of seeds they consume to germinate.
One of the Largest Birds on Earth: Journey of the EmuAdded:
Australia is the land of birds.
Many of the world's species trace their ancestry to the continent.
One of the most ancient and largest of them all is the emu.
For millions of years, these outback nomads have traveled the lengths of the continent in a never-ending quest for scarce food and water.
They must find a mate, guard eggs highly desirable to predators, and protect their tiny chicks from danger.
Each day takes them one step further into the unknown on the journey of the emu.
The myths of Australia's aboriginal people go back tens of thousands of years.
And in many of the stories, the emu holds a special place.
>> These giant birds were creator spirits.
They used to fly and look over all the land.
The legends were true.
At least in part.
Though their ancestors flew, emus are now earthbound.
Yet they still travel to all corners of the continent on epic journeys that cover a lifetime.
In the far north of the country, a solitary male makes his way across the plains.
Traveling up to 25 km a day, he spends his time grazing on grasses and shrubs.
He has lived in these parts for a few years now.
And like all emus, prefers to keep to himself.
When there is sufficient food and water, the birds spread out and establish separate territories.
But now the male has a dilemma.
There's been no rain for months. And the grass is all but turned to dust.
>> Soon there will be nothing left.
The male will be forced to leave his territory and move on in search of food.
In Australia, the good times never last for long.
It's the driest continent outside of Antarctica.
And drought is always around the corner.
Other birds have already started their exodus.
Flocks of budgerigars take to the wing and head for the coast en masse.
In the air, it will be a speedy journey.
But the emu has no such luxury.
Standing at almost 2 m high, he weighs around 40 kilos.
Far too heavy to get off the ground.
Even if his useless wings were large enough to provide lift, his own feathers work against him.
They lack the barbs which link normal feathers together into their streamlined shape.
The resulting mess is closer to fluff than an aid to flight.
The male's two strong legs are what must power him across the land in search of food.
His ancestors had four toes, but the emu has just three, all pointing towards the front.
A better arrangement for long-distance walking.
The male's average speed is 7 km an hour, but when needed, he can bolt flat out at 45 km per hour.
An ability he might shortly need to put to the test.
A storm.
This one has no rain to offer.
Instead, it brings only danger.
The dry grass is like a tinderbox. One flash of lightning and the whole plains could be alight within minutes.
The male must leave immediately.
Far from the fire, the male finds himself in a strange new land.
He has fled further into the arid heart of Australia.
There is even less food here than in his home territory.
And bad omens mark the way.
The weather is always unpredictable in the Outback.
And the animals out here haven't seen rain for years.
Even red kangaroos, built for the dry, are struggling.
They stick to the shade during the day as temperatures rise.
To conserve water while at rest, they pant rather than sweat to keep cool.
Only sweating when they're on the move.
As a last resort, they lick their forearms, where they have a dense network of blood vessels.
The saliva evaporates, cooling the blood.
However, saliva is mostly vital water.
And the kangaroos risk deadly dehydration.
The emu is more resilient.
His large body acts as a heat sink, absorbing heat during the day and releasing it at night.
He also has a lower breathing and heart rate than mammals the same size, meaning he expends less energy and exhales less water.
No thirsty animal will turn down a drink, however. And the male joins a procession of wildlife gathering at a local watering hole.
A flock of noisy galahs gather alongside kangaroos.
All have come to quench their thirst.
Emus can drink up to 18 L of water a day, taken down in giant gulps.
The male gets his fill just in time.
A pack of dingoes approaches, Australia's largest mammalian predator.
The dingo is a versatile hunter.
Working together, they can take down large prey, even an emu.
This pack is mostly a litter of juveniles, but the male isn't taking any chances.
It's time to hit the road.
Where to next is uncertain.
For years, the male lived in the same place.
However, when forced, emus become truly nomadic birds.
They follow no migratory pattern, moving from place to place without regard for season or direction.
The only thing they follow is food, and the male has a trick for finding it.
He heads towards the south, certain he will discover what he is looking for.
Many weeks pass, and without rain, there is still no fresh shoots to feed on.
Emus can lose 20 kilos, half their body weight, and still walk.
They are built for endurance.
But the male must find something to eat soon.
The first sign of reprieve, something brewing on the horizon.
Armed with incredibly sharp eyesight, and with their heads held high above the ground, emus can spot a thunderstorm from 100 kilometers away.
If it were a cyclone, they'd see it from twice the distance.
Rain means new grasses will follow.
So when emus spot a build-up of dark clouds, they move towards it.
Finally, the male knows where to go.
Rain at last.
When the male arrives, he finds he's not the only emu called by the clouds on the horizon.
Entire flocks come together in the same valley.
A great meeting place of emus.
Although emus prefer to live alone, dry years will often see these large congregations.
Others have been here for weeks.
And with water now in the soil, grass will soon sprout.
And many females are ready to mate.
Emus tend to nest each winter.
But they're so perfectly adapted to the arid Outback, they can hold off reproduction until conditions are right.
Now the male has been spotted by a very interested female.
Female emus are larger than the males.
And it is they who choose who they will mate with.
She approaches, making alluring grunts and booming sounds.
The booming comes from a specialized air sac in the neck, which is inflated to create a resonating sound.
Calls can carry over 2 km in open country.
The male hears her calls, and he can also smell her.
Emus emit a strong odor, and it is thought it could be a perfume used in courtship.
But the male isn't sure he's ready for romance.
It seems the male has little choice in the matter.
He has a new mate.
And they will stay together as a pair for around 5 months.
As night descends, the male's new partner settles in next to him.
Some of the world's earliest astronomers were the Aboriginal people of Australia.
And in the constellations, they saw an emu.
It was one of the key signs used for navigation by the ancients.
Morning is a busy time.
Unlike most birds, emus lack a preen gland, which releases oil from the base of their tail to keep feathers neat and tidy.
Nevertheless, emus groom their moths religiously, preparing for the day ahead.
>> With the female at his side, the male is a busy bird.
Soon she will lay a clutch, which will need incubation.
And feeding during the process is nearly impossible.
The male must be prepared.
So, he spends his time putting on as much weight as possible.
Emus gorge themselves. Once they find a tasty patch, they'll return to it day after day until there's nothing left.
They focus on the parts of the plants with the most nutrients, the fruits, seeds, and fresh grass.
With enough food, an emu can stockpile up to 11 kilos of fat, accumulated mainly on the neck and back.
As well as vegetation, they also eat insects. These protein-packed snacks are the fastest way of building up the reserves.
And as a final resort, emus will also peck at their own droppings, a way of recycling precious nutrients.
As well as putting on weight, the male also has more formal duties.
Before she can lay, the female eggs must be fertilized.
Exactly how emus mate was, until recently, a mystery.
Most birds do not have a penis.
Instead, both male and female have an opening called a cloaca.
An arrangement necessary to streamline the form of flying birds.
The ground-dwelling emu, however, does have a penis.
Unlike humans, it doesn't become erect with blood, but instead uses lymph fluid.
Over the last few days, the female has laid a clutch of eggs on the bare earth.
Now it's the male who takes charge.
He alone will incubate and defend the eggs and raise the chicks once they hatch.
He begins by building a makeshift nest.
Emus aren't weavers or master builders like some birds.
A few twigs and a final flourish of feathers and the male is satisfied.
Getting all the eggs together is more difficult.
At last, the female has chosen her nesting site well.
Protected on one side by a bush, but with a good outlook.
Incubation is a dangerous time.
For 8 weeks, the nest will be a sitting target.
And there's one egg he's missed.
It's rolled down the slope, out of reach.
To protect the main clutch, the male must sacrifice this outlier.
And so, it is cast adrift.
Others, however, are attracted by the abandoned egg.
For them, it's an opportunity.
A 2-m long predator is on the prowl.
He is one of the largest lizards on the planet.
The perentie.
He licks the air, tasting the scents on the wind.
An emu egg is a substantial prize.
13 cm long and weighing 650 g, it's the size of a dozen chicken eggs.
A meal of giants.
Such plunder attracts more than one pirate.
A black-breasted buzzard.
One of Australia's largest predatory birds. It usually hunts small lizards and mammals.
But how will it crack the thick shell of an emu egg?
The black-breasted buzzard is an inventor.
A remarkably intelligent bird and one of the few animals in the world who makes use of tools.
The perentie, however, is not willing to be outdone by a big-brained bird.
With the easy spoils already taken, he sets his sights on an even bigger target.
The treasure chest itself.
The male quickly spots the danger.
The perentie is armed with a deadly bite.
His saliva laced with venom.
The male's main line of defense is his size and ability to flee.
Skills of no use for protecting eggs.
Paternal instinct is strong. The will to live is stronger.
Just hours after taking charge of the eggs, the male is forced to abandon every one of them.
Male emus are the most skittish and likely to desert their eggs at the start of incubation.
So, the perentie has timed his assault to perfection.
Today, it is he who reigns supreme.
Hours later, the male returns and finds devastation.
Birds are not usually known for their emotions, but in recent years, they've been shown capable of empathy, a sense of justice, and the ability to grieve for their losses.
The emu has one of the smallest brains of all birds.
Yet, it too may be able to feel.
Bad experiences are usually remembered, for memory is essential for survival.
Without a nest or a mate, the male wanders the night alone.
>> Hope remains for the male, however.
For the female hasn't put all her eggs into one basket.
She has left another clutch ready to be incubated.
A backup plan.
Which the male is about to discover.
Laying more than one clutch is a common strategy used by emus when the ransacking of their nest is so common.
But how did these eggs survive left out in the open without any protection?
That has to do with something rather unexpected.
Their striking color.
While their green hue might stand out to a human, to a bird or a reptile, the color blends in with its surrounds, concealing the eggs.
However, the tiny chicks inside won't begin to develop until the surrounding temperature rises above a constant 36°C.
And that can only happen if the male is sitting on top of them.
Better get on with it.
>> Flocks of budgerigars have made it to the same valley, and they are also preparing to nest.
They seek out tree hollows where the female will stay for the entire incubation.
The safety of the hollow means her clutch doesn't need camouflage.
So, her eggs are white.
The father spends his time collecting nutritious grass seeds, which he ferries back to his partner.
He will keep her fed for the 3 weeks she will spend in the nest.
The male emu, however, has no such support.
He has one of the longest incubation periods of all birds, up to 56 days.
And he does it entirely alone.
Remarkably, he will not eat anything for the whole brood.
Other birds, such as Arctic geese and emperor penguins, also fast during incubation.
But in those cases, there is no food available.
The incubating emu is often surrounded by food.
Yet still, he will not feed.
Instead, the male seems to shut down almost all his responses to the outside world.
To prevent him from being lured away from the eggs by a new patch of grass.
He rises only to turn the eggs carefully.
Coping with his self-imposed famine requires great changes inside the male.
The fat he has stored away becomes critical.
It begins to metabolize, providing much-needed fuel and water.
Only if he has put on enough weight before the incubation, will he and the eggs survive the duration.
It's been over 7 weeks and the eggs have turned almost black.
Inside, they have transformed even more.
Eggs need to be strong enough to withstand the weight of the male sitting on top of them.
But now the shells are thinner.
The chicks inside have been absorbing calcium to build their tiny bones, making them stronger and the shell weaker.
For after weeks of being protected by their shells, the chicks must now break out.
The chicks use an egg tooth on the tip of their beak to push through the shell.
It snaps off in the process, but without it, they would be trapped.
Drinking in their first breath of fresh air, they call to their father.
The sound spurs the other unborn chicks to redouble their efforts to also break free.
It is crucial they all hatch at the same time. For the smell of blood on the broken eggs quickly draws in predators.
It's prudent to move on as quickly as possible.
The male will only briefly shelter the hatchlings.
Within a matter of hours, the chicks emerge from beneath their father.
They must gain control of their wobbly legs.
The first steps of a lifetime on the move.
The clock is already ticking.
And as soon as they are ready, the male stands to lead his brood away.
The first thing that chicks need is water.
So, he heads to the nearest source.
The male hurries them along, calling softly to his tiny brood to keep them close.
Emu chicks are like ducks to water.
They're surprisingly good swimmers, and have been known to cross up to 3 km of open ocean to reach islands off the coast of Australia.
>> But it's a little too much too soon for a newborn.
Chicks can easily catch a chill.
So once again, the male moves them on.
Spring has arrived. And the budgerigar chicks have also hatched.
Unlike the emu newborns, they have no feathers and are completely reliant on their parents.
Although the incubation time of a budgerigar is a lot shorter, the parents spend another 4 weeks ferrying food to their chicks each day until they are ready to fledge.
Preparing for flight is a much longer process than learning to walk.
The emu chicks, meanwhile, are out exploring the world.
>> The male teaches the newborns how to peck at food and which plants to eat.
He will stay with them until they are 6-months old, teaching them all he knows.
Guiding the chicks through the plains are hidden clues revealed only by an extra sense all emus possess from birth.
They have ultraviolet vision.
Unlike most mammals, many birds have this ability handed down to them from the dinosaurs they evolved from.
As chicks, emus learn to use their high-powered vision to zero in on seeds, fruit, and flowers optimizing their foraging time.
One day, the chicks will also develop a bright blue patch on their necks like their father.
It is thought that when seen in ultraviolet, these patches light up even further and could be important for attracting a mate.
The chicks also occasionally swallow pebbles.
These will be used in the gizzard, a part of the stomach where hard to digest food is ground up.
Meals can remain there for days before they are properly processed.
The chicks grow quickly, putting on a kilogram of weight a week.
They require a lot of protein, so insects are particularly coveted by the brood.
Each day, the male keeps the brood on the move, always following the rain clouds in the distance.
The chicks call to him constantly, like tiny sounding beacons.
It's a way for the male to keep tabs on everyone.
The male uses his keen eyesight to keep the family out of trouble.
A dingo spotted far off in one direction is a good reason to move on in another.
Especially with chicks afoot, emus give anything suspicious a very wide berth.
They can see danger from over 2 km away, and then circle all the way around it.
However, this strategy of avoidance can't prevent attacks from the air.
The brood have wandered into the territory of a wedge-tailed eagle, the largest bird of prey in Australia, and one of the biggest eagles in the world.
With a wingspan over 2 m, they're large enough to take on an adult emu.
But a brood of bite-sized chicks is easier game.
And one of them has wandered off on its own.
At this age, the chicks' brown striped feathers are designed to keep them camouflaged.
But the eagle's binocular vision rivals that of the emu.
Bony rings around each eye can squeeze the eyeball to magnify its targets.
The eagle bears down on its prey.
A frightened rabbit.
The separated chick reaches its siblings, and the brood quickly departs while the eagle is distracted.
>> The early months of a chick's life are fraught with danger.
This will not be the last menace they will face.
While adult emus are rarely taken by predators, chicks are constantly under threat.
Exhausted, the babies huddle under their father.
Safe, for now.
The budgerigar chicks finally leave their nests.
And the flock moves on.
Many months pass.
Now the chicks are almost as tall as their father.
Although they are now mostly silent, their voices have broken.
Going from piping cheeps to low grunts from one day to the next.
They have also grown bolder and now stray further from their father.
The brood have traveled far and wide, changing the landscape as they have moved through it.
Emus are the most important seed transporters on the Australian plains.
Their guts can retain seeds for up to 100 days.
Meaning a single scat can contain over 2,000 seeds.
With some coming from many kilometers away.
One in every three of the seeds they drop will germinate.
No other animal transports tree and grass species so far across the country.
Without emus, many plant species would cease to exist.
In recent days, the brood has reached a place that is home to unusual animals they've never encountered before.
Strange though its inhabitants might be, this new landscape provides a bounty of opportunity.
Food is plentiful.
And water is on tap.
Wherever humans have cultivated land for agriculture, emus have reaped the benefits.
The brood settles in to take advantage of the good conditions.
Although the juveniles can't help taking a closer look at some of their bizarre new neighbors.
The youngsters get a little carried away.
During the commotion, the male is distracted by another new arrival.
With the conditions right for breeding, a female is courting him.
He has protected the brood during their first vulnerable months of life and taught them all he knows.
To always follow the clouds on the horizon, then food will follow.
Now, it is time to part ways.
Female emus can become territorial and a danger to juveniles.
So, the brood must clear the area.
Moving on for the first time without their father leading the way.
What the chicks encounter next is beyond what they could have imagined.
A great body of water stretching far beyond the horizon.
The brood has wandered far from the valley where they first hatched and they must now make their way independently.
But, this is not the end of the road.
Just like in the old legends, emus belong everywhere and nowhere.
These giant birds that wander the continent looking over all the land.
>> Mhm.
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