AnimalvsAnimal
Somali ostrich🦤

Photo: Christiaan Kooyman · Public domain

SpeciesStruthioniformesStruthionidae
Birds

🦤Somali Ostrich

Struthio molybdophanes Reichenow, 1883

The Somali ostrich, also known as the blue-necked ostrich, is a large flightless bird native to the Horn of Africa. It is one of two living species of ostriches, the other being the common ostrich. It was also previously considered a subspecies of the common ostrich, but was identified as a distinct species in 2014. For a long time, Somalis partially domesticated some of these ostriches.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
None yet
Photos
1
Measurements
9
vs you
≈ 1.8× your weight
Conservation status
VUVulnerable

IUCN Red List assessment, 2022.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
111 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
not recorded
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Somali Ostrich

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
111 kg
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tail length
0.29 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length
0.51 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length
0.09 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length
0.47 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Trophic level
Herbivore
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat
Shrubland
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle
Terrestrial
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
111 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Somali Ostrich yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force, maximum lifespan.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classAves
  4. ›orderStruthioniformes
  5. ›familyStruthionidae
  6. ›genusStruthio
  7. ›speciesStruthio molybdophanes
Full lineage
  1. classBirds · Aves
  2. superorderPalaeognathae
  3. familyStruthionidae
  4. genusStruthio
All 12 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. classBirds · Aves
  10. superorderPalaeognathae
  11. familyStruthionidae
  12. genusStruthio
More

More about the Somali Ostrich

In other languages
Estruç de Somàlia (ca), pštros somálský (cs), Somalistruds (da), Somalistrauß (de), avestruz somalí (es), somalianstrutsi (fi) … and 26 more languages
Videos

No videos of the Somali Ostrich yet.

We have 44,653 videos so far, and none of them features this animal yet.

All videos →
Tools

Compare the Somali Ostrich

Pick a tool — the Somali Ostrich is already selected.

Side by side

Compare every stat with any other animal.

1,697 animals to compareOpen →
Who's bigger?

Stand them on the same floor and see who's bigger.

181st heaviest of 1,330Open →
Scaling lab

How speed, brain and bite scale with body size. This animal isn't in the sample yet.

Not in the sampleOpen →
Tree of life

See where it sits in the tree of life.

12 branchesOpen →