Emu "hairstyles" and sex?

yinepu

Crowing
8 Years
Jun 16, 2011
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Texas where we don't feed the Trolls...
I have noticed something with my "almost yearling" emus...

the boys have more "hair on their head" so to speak than my female does

Has anyone else noticed this? I'm not sure if it's a "sex characteristic" or if it's because they are from completely different bloodlines (the boys were from Kansas and the girl was from Alabama). Also there's only 5 days difference in their ages, with the males being 4 to 5 days older than the female.

It would be interesting to see if anyone else has noticed a difference between their yearling emus. btw.. these guys were all DNA sexed.

the difference is more apparent in person.. but the boys seem to have thicker topknots than the female does... she seems to suffer from more "thinning" even on the side of the neck..
So.. what do y'all think? Purely genetics? Or possibly another indication of sex?

the boys:






and the girl

 
Hey, Yinepu!


I have the chance to observe the hairdos of a good number of birds, but don’t always know their sex.

So, do the males have thicker hair than the females? I’ll start checking.

What I have noticed, overall though, is that the birds do exhibit a wide range of differences in size, colour, and hairdos. We even named one ‘Mohawk’ last winter.

Really nice photos!

Supreme Emu
 
Hey, Yinepu!


I have the chance to observe the hairdos of a good number of birds, but don’t always know their sex.

So, do the males have thicker hair than the females? I’ll start checking.

What I have noticed, overall though, is that the birds do exhibit a wide range of differences in size, colour, and hairdos. We even named one ‘Mohawk’ last winter.

Really nice photos!

Supreme Emu

Apparently the boys do... at least as yearlings.

I would be interested in seeing what you can find out from the wild ones that visit with you.
I'm also interested in seeing if this holds true for all types of emus or just certain ones.

My boys are really snugglers.. they love to be petted and hugged. So they are especially interested in anything new I have with me.. especially things like cameras. Getting their "mug shots was easy.

My female "Rose"is more of a "don't touch me" girl. BUT the other day one of the boys "Paco" lost his leg band (Rose lost hers a while ago, so since she was the only standoffish one it was easy to tell her from the others). When I went to replace Paco's leg band he stood very still and let me put the new shiny bright blue and red bands on him. Once Rose saw them she began picking at them then came over to me and stood there staring at me. I thought maybe it was my chance to reband her.. so I went and got her a bright yellow band. Much to my surprise she stood there like a statue until I was done.. never flinching or moving a muscle. As soon as I was done and stepped back she looked down at her new band.. then went right back to being the "don't touch me" girl. So the only thing I could think was she was a bit jealous that Paco had "jewelry" and she didn't!
 

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