The ostrich is the largest bird, lays the largest egg, and outruns a racehorse
A bird too heavy to fly turned its body into a record-breaking running machine.
The common ostrich is the largest living bird on Earth. Adult males stand up to 9 feet (2.75 m) tall and weigh 250–330 pounds — far too heavy to ever leave the ground. Roughly half that towering height is neck.
Unable to fly, the ostrich became one of nature’s great sprinters instead. Powered by long, two-toed legs, a frightened bird can hit about 45 mph (72 km/h) and clear more than 10 feet in a single stride — fast enough to outpace a galloping horse and leave most predators behind.
Its eggs match its scale. A single ostrich egg measures around 6 inches long and weighs roughly 3 pounds, the equivalent of about two dozen chicken eggs — the largest egg of any living bird.
Built to run rather than fly, the ostrich holds the title of fastest two-legged animal on the planet.
Sources & references
2 referencesWell-established. Corroborated by 2 independent sources.
