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Ostriches - strange birds!
Arno gets a hug from Linda the ostrich while feeding her a handful of mealies, as we say in SA, or corn, as we are now taught to say!
Theo gets the opportunity to feed Linda. (By the way, "linda" means
"beautiful" in Spanish.)
She even tried taking some food from Arno's lips. Now that is a
kiss with bite in it!
Jaco balances on an ostrich egg, which can carry a couple of hundred
pounds when on the side. If the egg is balanced on the sharp ends, the
weight it can withstand approaches something like 300 pounds! The eggs
have to be very strong, as the birds breed on the ground and sometimes
the adults would step on them. One ostrich egg equals about 24 ordinary
eggs.
If an ostrich can't see, it does not move. Theo is helped to sit
on a big male's back.
Jaco showing off a spray of ostrich feathers!
Somebody said I keep sticking my neck out …… Notice the big male
on the left of the picture has reddish shins and beak. When the males realize
the females are broody, their beaks and shins turn a bright pink. They
are then put with the female. When the colour turns to more yellow, the
pair is separated again. Ostriches mate for life.
And away they go! Jaco hangs on for dear life while two helpers
run along to make sure he does not fall off. An ostrich can run about 45
km per hour with somebody on its back.
Care to learn more about these wonderful birds? Link up to: Oudtshoorn,
the World's Ostrich Capital
Thank you to 
for this space.
(URL: http://boozers.fortunecity.com/bridge/251/)
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The HTML Writers Guild.
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KIBANA-SHAKUNAGE (Rhododendron aureum): One of the Alpine Rhododendrons.
Its pale-yellow color is expressed in both the Japanese and the Latin name
(image).
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