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The emu (/ ˈ iː m juː /; Dromaius novaehollandiae) is a species of flightless bird endemic to Australia, where it is the tallest native bird. It is the only extant member of the genus Dromaius and the third-tallest living bird after its African ratite relatives, the common ostrich and Somali ostrich. The emu's native ranges cover most of the ...
The following species and subspecies are recognized: Dromaius novaehollandiae, emu, remains common in most of the more lightly settled parts of mainland Australia.Overall population varies from decade to decade according to rainfall; as low as 200,000 and as high as 1,000,000, but a typical figure is about half a million individuals.
ɪ f ɔːr m iː z / is an order of large flightless birds that has four surviving members: the three species of cassowary, and the only remaining species of emu. They are divided into either a single family, Casuariidae, or more typically two, with the emu splitting off into its own family, Dromaiidae.
The fossil record of casuariforms is interesting, but not very extensive. Some Australian fossils initially believed to be from emus were recognized to represent a distinct genus, Emuarius, [3] which had a cassowary-like skull and femur and an emu-like lower leg and foot.
Rothschild's emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae rothschildi) is a subspecies of the emu that is native to parts of southern Australia, primarily within the states of Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales, although it may have occasionally wandered into other nearby states.
The Tasmanian emu had not progressed to the point where it could be considered a distinct species and even its status as a distinct subspecies is not universally accepted, as it agreed with the mainland birds in measurements and the external characters used to distinguish it – a whitish instead of a black foreneck and throat and an unfeathered neck – apparently are also present, albeit ...
The common name of the genus is derived from the resemblance of their tails to the feathers of an emu. [2] The genus was defined by French naturalist René Lesson in 1831 after his visit to Port Jackson on the 1823-5 voyage of the Coquille, although the southern emu-wren had already been encountered and described soon after European settlement at Sydney Cove. [3]
Some species have common names including emu bush, poverty bush or fuchsia bush, [2] reflecting the belief that emus eat the fruit, their arid environment or a superficial resemblance to the flowers of plants in the genus Fuchsia.