- Jun 8, 2010
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Some readers may know that the young of some species of birds are genetically imprinted with a fear of certain predators. (If you 'run' the shadow of a 'hawk' across their environment, they will react in fear, though they have never seen a hawk.) Several articles I've read mention that emu chicks run in a zig-zag pattern in the open, to avoid wedge-tailed eagles, which are (now) the principal threat to them (other predators being extinct or endangered).
Yesterday morning, The Principle Threat came flying up the avenue of gums in front of the house, and crossed the house-clearing at no more than forty feet. There's no mistaking these creatures: they're magnicent; they're killers. They're magnificent killers.
W.A. Museum ornithologists have on record a specimen that measured eight feet and two inches from wing-tip to wing-tip. Rock wallaby skeletons have been found in their nests. Local farmers assure me that, not only can a big wedgie LIFT a piglet, but that it can SNATCH IT UP WHILE IN FLIGHT.
Keep zig-zaggin', little emus!!
Mark Blair, Rocky Gully, W.A., Australia
Yesterday morning, The Principle Threat came flying up the avenue of gums in front of the house, and crossed the house-clearing at no more than forty feet. There's no mistaking these creatures: they're magnicent; they're killers. They're magnificent killers.
W.A. Museum ornithologists have on record a specimen that measured eight feet and two inches from wing-tip to wing-tip. Rock wallaby skeletons have been found in their nests. Local farmers assure me that, not only can a big wedgie LIFT a piglet, but that it can SNATCH IT UP WHILE IN FLIGHT.
Keep zig-zaggin', little emus!!
Mark Blair, Rocky Gully, W.A., Australia
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