[Ostrich appearance]
The head is small, wide and flat , the neck is long and flexible, and the exposed head, neck and legs are usually light pink; the beak is straight and short, with an oblate tip; the eyes are large, inheriting the characteristics of birds, and their vision is also Good, with very thick black eyelashes (Eyfyusfr). Guo Yigongs "Guangzhi" in ancient China says "The great bird that pays tribute to the country is put to rest." The wild goose has a camel-like body and is pale in color. It holds its head seven or eight feet high and spreads its wings more than ten feet. It eats barley and its eggs are like urns. It is called ostrich. "Tang Shu Biography of Tocharo" "Tocharo, a large bird was presented in the first year of Yongzheng. It is seven feet tall, black, with legs like a camel. It can move with wings spread, and it can eat iron for three hundred miles per day. Commonly known as ostrich. ”
The hind limbs of ostriches are very thick, with only two toes (the third and fourth toes), which are different from the three to four toes of ordinary birds. It is the one with the fewest number of toes among birds, with the inner toe (the third toe) ) is larger and has hard claws, and the outer toes are clawless. The hind limbs are powerful and can be used not only for sprinting, but also for attacking by kicking forward. The wings are quite large, but cannot fly, mainly because the sternum is flat, without keel protrusions, the clavicle is degenerated, and the feathers are evenly distributed, with no distinction between feathered areas and bare areas. The feathers are fluffy and underdeveloped, lacking differentiation, and there are no small hooks on the barbules. , thus not forming pinnae. Obviously, the main function of such feathers is thermal insulation.
