TO fly, birds use a vast amount of energy and food. Many birds have given up flying to save this energy but being flightless is risky as it is harder to escape from predators. A few flightless birds have evolved to become very large in order to survive. Let us look at some of these wonderful birds that roam around.

EMU

THE Emu, like most flightless birds that live on land, is an exceptional runner with its relatives the ostrich, rhea and cassowary. It can outpace the fastest hunters and all these birds can deliver a vicious kick if an enemy gets too close. In Australia there may be over one million emus in the wild.

KIWI

EVEN though they do not fly, flightless birds still have wings. Fast running birds, such as ostriches, use their wings to hold their balance as they sprint at high speed. They also flap their wings up and down to fan themselves in order to cool down.

The kiwi makes less use of its wings which is just four to five centimetre long. The wings are held tightly against the bird’s body and are difficult to see. The kiwi’s feathers are unlike those of other birds and seem much more like a mammal’s fur.

A native of New Zealand, the Kiwi eats soil-dwelling creatures, such as spiders and beetles. It hunts at night and has poor sight so finds food using smell and by probing with its sensitive bill. The bird can also hear animal moving in the soil. The kiwi’s diet and behaviour are similar to those of the badger, a common mammal in many parts of the world. The badger does not occur in New Zealand so the kiwi has little competition for its food.

CASSOWARY

IF cornered the 1.7m tall cassowary jumps up and strikes out with its huge blade-like claws. There are several records of people in New Guinea and Australia dying from injuries caused by these powerful birds. Other birds known to have killed people include ostrich and even mute swans.

KAKAPO

THE kakapo is the world’s only flightless parrot it is also the heaviest. Like the kiwi, it is a native of New Zealand and it used to be found all over the country but in modern time it has been driven out of all but the remotest islands by rats and cats. The kakapo is now one of the world rarest birds with fewer than 100 individuals left in the wild.

Although a few flightless birds are found on the mainland and most of these are very large, the majority of the world’s flightless birds are found on remote islands. These birds originally flew to the island, found there were no predators and evolved to become flightless because there was no need to fly to escape danger. But once human discover the island birds such as the dodo were at the mercy of hungry sailors.

RHEA

REACHING 1.3m tall the rhea is the largest bird found in either North or South America it live mainly on the pampars grassland of Argentina where in winter, it gathers in impressive flocks of over 100 birds. The rhea mainly eats roots, fruits and leaves, but will also snatch up small creatures, such as lizards.