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Rhea pennata
Spotted this lovely lesser rhea feeding along the main park road in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile. It is a large flightless bird related to ostritches and emus. It is native to Patagonia and has a near-threatened rating.
Torres del Paine National Park, Chile open land with grass/shrubs along main park road Y-150.
The rheas are large ratites (flightless birds without a keel on their sternum bone) in the order Rheiformes, native to South America, related to the ostrich and emu. There are two extant species: the greater or American rhea (Rhea americana) and the lesser or Darwin's rhea (Rhea pennata). Both are currently rated as near-threatened in their native ranges; a feral population of the greater rhea in Germany appears to be growing. Wikipedia
Spotted on Jan 8, 2015
Submitted on Feb 2, 2015
6 Comments
A belated thanks to all of you! I'm honored to have my spotting chosen.
What an apt spotting for Darwin Day. Congrats misako.
Congratulations Misako!!! Wonderful spotting. Thank you for sharing :)
Thank you António!
Fantastic series Misako,perfect choise to the Darwin day Danièle :-)
Congrats on the well deserved SOTD and thanks for sharing
Congratulations Misako, your spotting has been chosen to illustrate Darwin Day:
"Today is Darwin Day! Darwin Day celebrates the anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin on 12 February 1809, and is used to highlight Darwin's contributions to science and to promote science in general. More than 250 species, nine genera, and some higher taxa have been named after Darwin himself. While some species epithets have since been changed, Darwin's name has stayed with many species' common names. Such is the case of Darwin's Rhea (Rhea pennata, previously Rhea darwinii). Also known as the lesser rhea, it is the smaller of the two extant species of rheas and is found in the Altiplano and Patagonia in South America. It was documented by Darwin during the second voyage of HMS Beagle. Here you can read more about the significance of the discovery of Darwin's Rhea: https://buff.ly/2EjKyaR "
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