Time to play guess the sex! OSTRICH EDITION

My ostrich is coming up on 12 months old. Within the last few weeks his behavior has radically changed. He was always indifferent to me, but he went to indifferent to me to displaying and acting territorial. His behavior clearly was saying, "Do not come near me. Do not enter my pen." This behavior included, alternating wing flapping, spreading his wings larger, and raising his neck and hissing.

Okay, I thought, this is definitely a male ostrich. I sent pictures of him to an ostrich expert on this forum and he said he thinks he's probably a male, too, but that it was a bit hard to tell from the photos. Now, I'm looking for a mate for him. A yearling from last year to keep him company.

I went back to his original breeder and he says he has a yearling available for me. However, he asked for pictures of my ostrich to confirm that he's a boy first. I send him the pictures below and he replied and said, "I am looking at this pics and do not see any signs that this is a rooster."

Okay, now I am really confused.

His behavior alone is screams MALE to me.

I've never seen a female act like this. Do females even practice alternate wing flapping? My experience is limited though, so maybe they are also extremely territorial and aggressive? Maybe this is a female with a higher than normal level of testerone?

(I've tried to catch him defecating to to look to see if there's 'anything there', but I've been so busy this week, I've pretty much just been feeding the birds and watering them.)

What do YOU think based on the pictures?














I know I can pull a blood feather and send it off to ZooGen, but I figured if I can save the $40 and someone out there can tell, I may as well try first. I'm interested in what you guys think. Btw I love this, male or female.

I have no idea -- but I will follow this thread 'cause I wanna learn the characteristics of the ostriches.

S.E

I have no idea, either! It's fun trying to figure it out...

I took clearer photos this evening. He/she is a little over 12 months now.

Oh look -- that's where the bumnuts come out!! Great photos. All data is wonderful.

Question: do ostriches have the vestigial claw?

I am tempted to sneak a breeding-pair of ostriches into the house-clearing here one night, just to see the look on Eric's face in the morning.

Best to have a camera handy. Either Eric will go, 'Gee, gotta go -- I hear my mum calling,' or he'll just attack the ostriches on the spot.

Do the ostriches jump when they fight. Oh wow!! Gotta get that on film.

se

....so this is a male then, right? I seriously can't tell. I, um, thought it might be more pronounced than it appears. Sorry, Sniper.

Yes, they do have the vestigial claw.

And they jump when fighting or frightened, but not quite as dramatically or as... eloquently as emu.

I sent these pictures off to someone with an ostrich ranch, and they told me that it looks like a hen. Now I've got a 50/50 split. I guess it might be time for ZooGen to settle this.

It's fine to have an ostrich lover posting regularly, Moonjelly. You might not know that -- though we are 'Ostriches, Emus, Rheas -- there has been very little activity from ostrich owners. (and I always love to mention Casuarius, the only community member with cassowaries.)

se

I can see it is primarily Emu owners (which I also love). I would like to get some Cassowaries, but I'm afraid they're unavailable or out of my budget. Mostly out of my budget. Maybe some day...

moonjelly said:

I took clearer photos this evening. He/she is a little over 12 months now.

Click to expand...

Legs and beak - Female
Feathers - Appear to be male (thus my confusion coupled with the bird's aggressive behavior)
Vent - THAT's NO MALE You would DEFINITELY have seen a LONG dangly phallus if that was a male. There is absolutely no mistaking it. I'll see if I can get a pic and show you.