Animal · Australia
Emu
Dromaius novaehollandiae — the name this animal has in the language scientists everywhere share.
The emu is Australia's largest bird and the second-largest bird in the world after the ostrich. It roams grasslands, woodlands and deserts across almost the entire continent.
Picture credit: Calistemon (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Calistemon (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Calistemon (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where does the emu live?
Home: Grasslands, woodlands and deserts across Australia.
In the wild you find it in: Australia.
Conservation status from the IUCN: not in danger.
The short profile
Fully grown it measures 1.5–1.9 m tall. It weighs about 37 kilograms. On the menu: both plants and meat.
The story behind it
Emus are strong runners, able to reach speeds of 50 km/h and travel long distances in search of food and water, sometimes covering hundreds of kilometres. Unusually among birds, it is the male emu that takes on almost all parenting duties: after the female lays her eggs, the male incubates them alone for about eight weeks, barely eating or drinking, and then raises the chicks by himself for several months. Emus eat a wide variety of plants, seeds, fruit and insects, and swallow pebbles to help digest tough plant material. During the 1930s, Australian farmers even fought the famous 'Emu War' trying, with little success, to control emu numbers damaging crops. Today emus remain common and widespread across Australia.
Find it on the globe
Emu is there as a tiny animated figure that breathes and looks around. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
Can emus fly?
No, emus cannot fly, but their long legs let them run at up to 50 km/h. This makes them one of the fastest birds on land, able to cover huge distances across the Australian outback.
Do male or female emus look after the eggs?
Male emus do almost all the parenting. After the female lays the eggs, the male sits on them alone for about eight weeks and then cares for the chicks by himself for several months.
What do emus eat?
Emus eat a mix of plants, seeds, fruit and insects, adjusting their diet to whatever is available across the seasons. They also swallow small stones, which stay in their stomach and help grind up tough food.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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