Born to Run Trivia Quiz

Answer:

The emu, and the kangaroo, were selected for Australia's Coat of Arms for their purported inability to move backwards, symbolising a progressive nation. The muscle structure of the emu, and its unique knee joints and three toed feet are specifically designed for fast forward movement. This allows the bird to travel at speeds that can reach 50 kilometres per hour (30 miles per hour) over great distances. Contrary to most beliefs, they can move backwards but this will only occur when the bird is threatened and, then, those steps are short, stilted and awkward. What it is more likely to do in this scenario is rotate its body 180 degrees and run back the way it came.

The emu is part of the diverse range of birds known as ratites, a group that includes the ostrich, cassowary and rhea. Like the rest of this group, the emu possesses a flat breast bone, which does not have a keel. In other words, it doesn't have those bony ridges that would act as anchors for flight muscles. Consequently, they are unable to fly.

This mighty bird can reach heights of two metres (6 feet 6 inches), making it the world' s second tallest, and Australia's tallest, bird. The female is the larger of the species and she can weigh as much as 60 kilograms (132 pounds), though the average female would weigh around 37 kilos or 82 pounds.

The birds are omnivores and will feast on insects, small animals, fruits, native plants, leaves and grasses. However, they are opportunistic feeders, so don't take your eyes off your sandwich if you're in their vicinity. They have no teeth so they will swallow small pebbles to assist with their digestion.

Australia is the only place that you can witness emus in the wild and they can be found in every state except Tasmania. They avoid densely populated areas and thick forests, preferring to keep to the open plains where they can use their speed to advantage.

An emu's nest can be as wide as 1.5 metres (5 feet). The female will lay approximately 7-8 eggs at a time. These are thick shelled, dark green in colour and weigh about half a kilogram (one pound) each. After this, her work is done (little wonder) and that's when the male takes over. He will lay on the eggs to incubate them, which takes roughly 56 days to occur and, during this time, he will fast. Once the chicks hatch he will also care for them. Emus are precocial, which means that, when the chicks hatch, they are not helpless. They are well developed at this point, their eyes will be open, they'll have a good covering of down and will be capable of walking and running within two to three days.

The emu is a survivalist. They can thrive in the harshest of landscapes, adapt to drought and use their power and speed to escape predators. As a footnote to this, they even survived the the Great Emu War. In 1932 the Australian army, armed with machine guns, were called in to cull some 20,000 emus in Western Australia, as they were causing damage to the grain crops. The army was unable to deal with the unpredictable movements of the emus and, what was termed as, guerrilla like evasion tactics. So much so that, after a month, they called the programme off.