Ostrich a la carte and a la mode Ornithological Notes

From: The Independent (London, England) | Date: May 17, 1999| Author: | Copyright information

THE OSTRICH has been in denial for nearly 2,000 years, ever since the world's first natural historian, Pliny the Elder, saddled the creature with its reputation for head-burying. Thanks to Pliny, centuries of satirists have assumed that this bird behemoth is deeply repressed. Untrue. But the ostrich does remain bone-headed.

In IQ terms, your average sheep is a rocket scientist compared to any ostrich. When it rains, ostriches are prone to stare at the sky, sometimes forgetting to close their beaks. They've been known to drown that way. They also have a weakness for circular escape. Instead ...

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