Emu

Description:

Emu , a male with his chicks. The Emu is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. There are three subspecies of Emus in Australia. The Emu is common over most of mainland Australia, although it avoids heavily populated areas, dense forest, and arid areas

Habitat:

Coastal heath and grasslands. The flowering plant pictured here is Pink mulla mulla: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/686...

Notes:

Males raise the chicks. This male is pictured with six young chicks. Females find a male to pair with, but will mate with multiple males, laying eggs in each male's ground nest, and then, once the males start incubating the eggs, leave them to raise the young . Up to 50% of the eggs in an individual male's nest will be fathered by other males. Females are thus able to mother multiple clutches over the breeding season.