Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity

(1982) “Molting Sequences in the Development of the Tail Plumage of the Superb Lyrebird, Menura novae-hollandiae.” Australian Wildlife Research 9:311—30.

*———(1968) The Lyrebird. Melbourne: Lansdowne Press.

Watson, I. M. (1965) “Mating of the Superb Lyrebird, Menura novae-hollandiae.” Emu 65:129—32.

Other Birds

FLIGHTLESS BIRDS

OSTRICH

IDENTIFICATION: The largest living bird (over 6 feet tall), with striking black-and-white plumage in the male and powerful legs and claws. DISTRIBUTION: Southern, eastern, and west-central Africa. HABITAT: Open savanna, dry veld, steppe, semidesert. STUDY AREA: Namib Game Reserve, Namibia; subspecies S.c. australis, the South African Ostrich.

EMU

IDENTIFICATION: The second-largest living bird (5—6 feet tall), with shaggy, brown plumage and bare patches of blue skin on the face and neck. DISTRIBUTION: Australia. HABITAT: Arid plains, semidesert, scrub, open woodland. STUDY AREAS: Barcoo River and Alice Downs areas, Central Queensland, Australia; Division of Wildlife Research, Helena Valley, Western Australia; Berlin Zoo and Melbourne Zoological Gardens.

GREATER RHEA

IDENTIFICATION: Similar to Ostrich but smaller (up to 41/2 feet tall) and with overall grayish brown plumage in both sexes. DISTRIBUTION: Southeastern South America. HABITAT: Open brush, grassland, plains. STUDY AREA: Near General Lavalle, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina; subspecies R.a. albescens.

Social Organization

Ostriches associate in flocks and frequently form sex-segregated groups. All-male flocks may contain up to 40 individuals, many of them juveniles, who travel with each other for long periods. Emus generally associate in pairs or groups of 3—10 birds, while Greater Rheas gather in flocks of 15—40 birds outside of the mating season. All three species have a wide variety of mating systems (discussed below). These are notable for their various forms of POLYANDRY (females mating with several males) and the fact that—in Emus and Greater Rheas—all incubation and chick-rearing is performed by males without any help from females.

Description