by Matthew Cobb
Two emus and an ostrich are freaked out by… a ball. Not sure why it’s got tango music on it, but who cares? The vestigial wings of the emus leave them somewhat bereft of ways of interacting with a potential prey/predator. Maybe this is how T. rex would have really reacted to that speeding jeep in Jurassic Park…
[JAC note: Weasel Balls don’t contain rodents: they’re simply battery-powered toys.]
The animals are reared at Camels and Friends.
The phrase ‘bird brain’ comes to mind.
This was one of my problems with Jurassic Park. Yes, therapod dinosaurs were “intelligent.” But that’s relative. We’re not talking “able to figure out door knobs with very little effort.” We’re talking “not quite as smart as an ostrich.“
I’d be freaked out, too. That ball has a tail for kriesake.
My cat and dg were terrified by one of those, too.
Yikes! Scary egg creature from Mars!
The tango music is perfect.
Yes. Whoever added that music was inspired.
How graceful these big birds are!
I dunno…did you see some of those bicycle kicks in the air? With talons bigger than your foot?
That’s one bird I’d never, ever want to piss off.
I imagine their pre-Chicxulub ancestors were likely at least as capable of eviscerating humans.
b&
Here is one with a reputation for eviscerating humans but the Wikipedia entry seems to downplay that a bit.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary
Either way that’s one scary bird.
Yes, couldn’t help but think, watching the emus in particular, that this was all very dinosaurian. All that was missing was long tails.
And yes, I wouldn’t want to be the person who had to go in after it was all over and retrieve the Weasel Ball. Kicked to death by a bird. Wouldn’t that look good on the old tombstone.
Here lies Mortimer Snerd
Who lost it all
When retrieving a Weasel Ball
And was kicked to death by Big Bird
Ha ha! That made me LOL!
😉
You can see they are curious about it but then get freaked out. I wish they tried this on a cassowary.
I love how the emus’ bodies bend as they quickly take off. I saw footage of baby cassowaries playing and they had the same movement.
Fight or flight — wait, I’m flightless! Have to fight!
My favorite part was getting to see the emus’ little wings, like Tyrannosaurus arms but without the claws.
I miss my emu buddy.
Our d*g was similarly freaked out by that toy. I think it was a reaction to the unpredictable trajectory.
For a bird with no lateral stabilisers like its African cousin, the emu’s very agile with its sways and leaps. Graceful, almost – even as juveniles.
I’ll always remember seeing a group of about five emus in the wild when I was (perhaps) 12. On holiday around South Australia’s central coast, my parents, brother and I were bushwalking when we saw them maybe fifteen metres away, about to cross the old track we were following. They’d stopped at a large puddle for a drink so we stopped too then squatted down and just watched, hoping they wouldn’t be spooked. To our joy they weren’t – they folded up their giant legs backwards, kneeled by the puddle, scooped up decent gulps of water then straightened their necks to drink (in the video, one of the juveniles kneels right down in a similar fashion while investigating the toy). After they were all done, they gave us a cursory glance, crossed the track and went on their way. As humans, you get used to animals deferring to you or running away but this was a new experience to my young mind – wild creatures being aware of me but not being afraid and just going about their business, in a little group just like my own family.
When I was a kid, we weren’t flush (dad was a typically underpaid high school science teacher) so our family holidays were mostly caravan/camping stays. I sometimes wished we could fly somewhere tropical/glamourous but looking back, our bush/coastal road-trips contain some of my fondest memories (almost all wildlife-related). Adelaide’s a quiet little city (our home in the hills 45 minutes away was even quieter) but it was quite a blessing because we were so very close to wild bush and even wilder coast. Dad’s love of nature (which led him to his career, with a particular focus on biology) made it all the more special because he could explain everything and show you many things you wouldn’t have seen otherwise.
/long tangent 🙂
A long tangent I very much enjoyed reading.
Nice to hear, thank you Diane.
You were lucky in your childhood. And it was good of your Dad to share so much with you.
I certainly was – my brothers too. Dad’s now a grandfather and still more than happy to share his knowledge and get kids interested in their world.
Me, too.