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Ostrich eggs are the largest of all eggs, [4] though they are actually the smallest eggs relative to the size of the adult bird — on average they are 15 cm (5.9 in) long, 13 cm (5.1 in) wide, and weigh 1.4 kilograms (3.1 lb), over 20 times the weight of a chicken's egg and only 1 to 4% the size of the female. [5]
The Masai ostrich (Struthio camelus massaicus), also known as the East African ostrich is a red-necked subspecies variety of the common ostrich and is endemic to East Africa. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] It is one of the largest birds in the world, second only to its sister subspecies Struthio camelus camelus . [ 4 ]
Ostrich eggs are vulnerable to many predators ranging from mongooses and Egyptian vultures, to hyenas. [20] Snakes of the genera Dasypeltis and Elachistodon specialize in eating eggs. Humans have a long history of eating eggs, both wild bird eggs and farm-raised bird eggs. [citation needed]
However, the average clutch size is 26 eggs laid by 7 different females. [4] Rhea eggs measure about 130 mm × 90 mm (5.1 in × 3.5 in) and weigh 600 g (21 oz) on average; they are thus less than half the size of an ostrich egg. Their shell is greenish-yellow when fresh but soon fades to dull cream when exposed to light.
The male and female alternate to sit on the eggs with the female doing duty in the day and the male in the night. Some birds can lay up to 100 eggs during the breeding season with an egg being laid every one or two days. During this period the male ostriches become very aggressive protecting both the female and the eggs. [citation needed]
Deep cup nest of the great reed-warbler. A bird nest is the spot in which a bird lays and incubates its eggs and raises its young. Although the term popularly refers to a specific structure made by the bird itself—such as the grassy cup nest of the American robin or Eurasian blackbird, or the elaborately woven hanging nest of the Montezuma oropendola or the village weaver—that is too ...
The only living mammals that lay eggs are echidnas and platypuses. In the latter, the eggs develop in utero for about 28 days, with only about 10 days of external incubation (in contrast to a chicken egg, which spends about one day in tract and 21 days externally). [11] After laying her eggs, the female curls around them.
Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large areas of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. They are the heaviest and largest living birds, with adult common ostriches weighing anywhere between 63.5 and 145 kilograms and laying the largest eggs of any living land animal. [ 3 ]