Emu

Description:

Very tall flightless brown-grey bird, skin around face is bare & blue black. Males up to 190cm tall Long legs & neck, juveniles are grey with black or brown stripes, males do all the incubating & rearing & donate a total of about 18 mths to their young & don't even leave the nest for 55 days.

Habitat:

Varied, temperate to tropical at all altitudes. Plains, scrublands, open woodlands, pastoral lands, semi-desert & margins of lakes.

Notes:

The gaping the male is doing in 1 pic is part of a mating display, they also make a bass-like booming sound Feathers have two 'fronds' emerging from a single quill, this is believed to aid insulation agains both heat & cold. The only other bird with this particular adaptation is the Cassowary, also large and flightless, but exclusively tropical.