86 Fun Facts About Emu

Among the world's birds, where does the emu rank in height?

Second, after the ostrich: emus stand up to 1.9 m but cannot fly, so a cornered bird defends itself by kicking with its big three-toed feet.

How does the IUCN Red List rate the emu's conservation status?

Least Concern: more than 630,000 adults roam the mainland, and permanent watering points for sheep and cattle have let emus spread into dry country that once shut them out.

Nomadic emus can walk hundreds of kilometres across the outback, mainly following what?

Recent rainfall: a downpour brings a flush of new grass, seeds and insects, so emus trek to wherever it has fallen instead of holding one territory all year.

At the 1972 Royal Variety Performance, a comedian's Emu puppet attacked the bouquet of which royal?

The Queen Mother met the puppet after the show and it went for her bouquet: attacking anyone within reach was the whole act, and royalty got no exemption.

A long Australian fence that now holds back migrating emus was first built in the 1900s to stop what?

Rabbits: the rabbit-proof fences of 1902-07 mattered less as that threat faded, but proved so useful against emu migrations that the barrier was later known as the Emu Fence.

The word 'emu' probably comes from 'ema', a name for big flightless birds in which language?

Portuguese: ema first named other big flightless birds, and English borrowed it as 'emia' and 'emeu' before the name settled on Australia's bird.

Emus were once common along which coast of Australia, where they are now scarce?

The east coast: emus were plentiful there when Europeans arrived, but the rapid growth of towns and cities along that shore has pushed them out.

In Australian slang, what do people do on an 'emu parade'?

Pick up litter: an emu parade is a line of soldiers or schoolchildren sent to comb an area for rubbish, and schools have long handed the chore out as a punishment.

The emu's genus name, Dromaius, comes from a Greek word meaning what?

Racer: the name fits a bird that can sprint at nearly 50 km/h, and the same Greek root for running also gave the dromedary camel its name.

The emu's closest relatives are which birds?

Cassowaries share the order Casuariiformes with the emu, which has much in common physically with the African ostrich but is a far closer cousin of its helmeted rainforest neighbours.

Emus, kiwis and rheas all belong to which group of birds?

Ratites: the name comes from the Latin for raft, because their flat breastbones lack the keel that anchors the flight muscles of flying birds.

An emu's fresh feathers grow in almost black, so what turns them grey-brown?

Sunlight: the sun bleaches each new coat from near-black to grey-brown, and the same shaggy plumage works as a sunshade that keeps the skin beneath from overheating.

What is unusual about the structure of an emu feather?

Two shafts emerge from a single base, and the barbs lack the hooks that zip most feathers together, so the plumage hangs loose and shaggy, more like hair.

An emu's wings are vestigial, but each has what at its tip?

A small claw tips each wing. The wings are only about 20 cm long and hidden in the plumage, yet emus still flap them when running, perhaps to steady themselves.

What colour is the skin of an emu's neck, showing through its sparse feathers?

Pale blue skin shows through the neck's sparse feathers, darker in some birds. The body plumage shifts too, rufous on red soils and darker in damp country, which works as camouflage.

What protects an emu's eyes from dust in windy country?

Translucent nictitating membranes sweep sideways across each eye like a visor, so the emu can keep watching through the blowing dust of arid country.

Emus have a tracheal pouch that becomes more prominent when?

During the mating season the pouch, part of the windpipe, inflates to power the deep booming calls that carry the courtship.

In the continent's west, which seasonal pattern do emu migrations follow?

North in summer, south in winter: flocks cover hundreds of kilometres at up to 25 km a day, which is why a long barrier fence now shields grain farms from them.

Which sex of emu does most of the booming?

The hens do most of the booming, to announce a territory and warn off rivals, while the cocks mostly answer in grunts.

Besides small stones for grinding food, emus are known to eat what puzzling substance?

Charcoal, for reasons that remain unclear. The rest of the diet matters more to the bush: seeds an emu swallows often pass through whole and are dropped far away as it roams.

Besides loss of habitat, which modern hazard is counted among the main threats to wild emus?

Vehicle collisions: roads now cut across the country emus roam, and long barrier fences block their migrations as well.

What is unusual about the female emu's part in courtship?

She does the wooing: the hen opens the courtship with low calls to the male and stays the dominant partner while the pair is forming.

What colour are emu eggs?

Green: the thick shell is dark on the outside with paler green and white layers beneath, so carvers cut down through it to make cameo-like pictures.

An incubating emu father gets to his feet several times a day and does what?

Turns the eggs: that is about the only thing that gets him up, because he sits almost without a break for the eight weeks the clutch takes to hatch.

What keeps a male emu alive through eight weeks on the nest?

Stored body fat carries him through: he does not eat or drink for the whole sitting and loses up to a third of his weight before the chicks hatch.

Laid one by one, emu eggs hatch when?

Nearly together: however long the clutch took to lay, it all hatches within days, and the chicks can leave the nest only a few days later.

Once the male starts brooding, what does the hen usually do?

Wanders off and may pair with other males: in a good season a hen can lay three clutches, each one left for a different male to sit on.

Which animal is the emu's main predator in modern Australia?

The dingo goes for the head, so the emu leaps and then kicks or stamps on it on the way down, keeping its neck out of reach.

Which is the only bird of prey capable of attacking a fully grown emu?

The wedge-tailed eagle swoops at the head and neck, trying to break it, and against an attack from above the emu's usual leap-and-kick defence is no help.

The Emu War of 1932 was fought in which state?

Western Australia: the flocks hit marginal wheat country around Campion, where ex-soldiers turned farmers asked the defence minister to send in the army.

Which machine guns did army gunners turn on the birds in the Emu War?

Lewis guns: the party had two, with 10,000 rounds, and at one ambush a gun jammed after only about a dozen birds from a mob of a thousand had fallen.

The commander of the Emu War, Major Meredith, compared the emus to what?

Tanks: Meredith said the birds could 'face machine guns with the invulnerability of tanks', after emus hit by bullets simply kept on running.

How did the army's 1932 Emu War end?

Gunners withdrawn: they were recalled that December claiming 986 kills from 9,860 rounds, and the birds were soon being called the victors.

Roughly how many emus descended on wheat farms in 1932, triggering the Emu War?

About 20,000 emus moved in after the breeding season, eating and trampling the wheat and breaking holes in farm fences as they went.

Many Aboriginal traditions see a giant emu in the sky, formed by what?

The dark dust lanes of the Milky Way form the emu, its head the Coalsack beside the Southern Cross, and its position told people when to collect emu eggs.

The Kurdaitcha man of the central deserts is said to wear sandals of what to hide his footprints?

One Western Australian story says the first emu was a man whose arms were cut off by a boomerang.

The emu appears alongside which animal as a shield bearer on the national coat of arms?

The red kangaroo and the emu have held the shield since the first arms of 1908, yet neither has ever been designated an official animal emblem of the nation.

The slouch hats of which Australian military unit are decorated with the emu's feathers?

The Light Horse: troopers are said to have chased emus down on horseback and kept the feathers as proof of their riding skill, and armoured regiments still wear the plume.

Which British comedian was famous for a wayward emu puppet?

Rod Hull's arm-length Emu never spoke: it simply went for hosts and guests while Hull pretended to wrestle it back, an act born as a prop on Australian children's television.

In 1922, after years of raids on wheat crops, emus lost their protected status and were declared what?

Vermin: the label left farmers free to shoot emus, and it was not until 1999 that wild emus were formally protected again under national law.

The US Food and Drug Administration once used 'pure emu oil' as an example in a guide to spotting what?

Health fraud: one seller had pushed pure emu oil as a treatment for a wide range of diseases without ever giving the agency evidence that it was safe or worked.

Which witch spent the 1980s trying to steal Emu on the puppet's children's TV shows?

Grotbags, played by the singer Carol Lee Scott, schemed to capture Emu from her first appearance in 1982 and proved popular enough to win her own series in 1991.

The dinosaur Dromiceiomimus was named after an old genus name for the emu; what does its name mean?

Emu mimic: the name was built on Dromiceius, so a bird that never left Australia lent its name to a beaked, two-legged runner that lived in Canada some 70 million years ago.

What pattern do emu chicks wear for their first few months?

Stripes along the body, dark on cream, hide the chicks in long grass; they fade after about three months as the dull adult feathers grow in.

Which extinct giant lizard may have preyed on emus in prehistoric Australia?

Megalania, a giant goanna and kin to the Komodo dragon, may have hunted emus; enemies like that could explain why the birds defend themselves so well.

Which denomination of Australian currency carries the emu as part of the coat of arms?

50 cents: the coin carries the whole coat of arms. Its first version in 1966 was round and 80% silver, and minting stopped once the metal was worth more than the coin.

On average, an emu weighs slightly more than which other famous bird?

Emperor penguin: the biggest penguin averages a little less than an emu, and among emus it is the hen, not the cock, that is the larger and heavier bird.

The emu's bill is built mainly for which way of feeding?

Grazing on plants: emus pluck shoots, seeds, fruit and insects and leave the grinding to stones in the gizzard.

An emu's low courtship calls are most often likened to the sound of what?

A beating drum: the deep booming carries up to two kilometres, which lets a bird advertise itself across wide, open country.

How does an emu shed heat on a very hot day?

By panting: the lungs work as evaporative coolers, while the feathers' dark tips soak up the sun's heat and the layers beneath keep it off the skin.

Emus were hunted in early 20th-century Queensland for spreading the seeds of which invasive plant?

Prickly pear: emus ate the fruit and spread the seeds in their droppings, so hunts were organised, but it was an imported moth, Cactoblastis, that finally beat the cactus.

What does an emu do when a flooded creek or river blocks its way?

Swims across it: emus are strong swimmers, and they will also flop into a pond or lake simply to soak their feathers.

Emus do their nesting at which time of year?

Winter: unlike most birds, emus pair up in summer and lay in the coolest part of the year, so the sitting bird spends the coldest weeks on the nest.

Once his chicks hatch, how does an emu father treat their mother if she comes near?

He drives her away: a father with chicks turns on any other emu that approaches, the mother included, and he then raises the brood on his own for months.

Australia's tiny emu-wrens take their name from which emu-like trait?

Their wispy tail feathers: the loose plumes look like an emu's, and the birds fly so weakly that they would rather scurry through dense heath like mice.

How often does a female emu lay each egg of a clutch?

Every second or third day: the eggs are huge and thick-shelled, so a clutch of five to fifteen takes the hen weeks to finish.

One emu egg weighs about as much as how many hen's eggs?

About 10: one emu egg matches ten to twelve hen's eggs at roughly half a kilogram, and the sitting father rolls back any that slip out of the nest.

DNA tests on emu chicks gave the first verified bird example of what?

Genetically identical twins: DNA matching confirmed the two chicks as the first verified pair in any bird. Emu chicks are precocial, on their feet at once and out of the nest within days.

For months after hatching, emu chicks trail their father while he teaches them what?

How to find food: the chicks are on their feet almost at once, yet they stay at their father's side for months while he shows them what to eat and keeps them safe.

What sound does a threatened emu make to warn off an attacker at close quarters?

A hiss: a threatened emu hisses and puffs up its feathers, and if the warning is ignored it lashes out with a kick from its clawed feet.

What kind of nest does an emu use?

A bed of grass on the ground: the male builds it, and it is so flat that eggs sometimes roll away and he has to pull them back in.

In 1932, what drove an unusually large migration of emus onto the wheat farms?

Drought: with the inland parched, the flocks headed for farmland where settlers had cleared the land and laid on water for their stock.

How far does a sprinting emu travel in a single stride?

About 3 m: at full gallop an emu covers well over its own height with every stride, part of what lets it sprint at close to 50 km/h.

A hen emu lays up to 15 eggs, so how can a single nest hold 25?

Several hens lay in it: a hen may add her eggs to another pair's nest, so the father there can end up hatching chicks that are not his own.

A 2007 review of which UK law let people keep emus without a licence?

The Dangerous Wild Animals Act still demands a licence for an ostrich, but the 2007 revision dropped the emu from its schedule as no longer dangerous enough to list.

In Perth, the Emu brand has for over a century been a household name for which product?

Beer: the city's Stanley Brewery found its bottled Emu beer so popular that in 1908 it renamed the whole brewery after the brand.

Which US insurer introduced an emu mascot to its advertising in 2019?

Liberty Mutual built its 2019 campaign around LiMu Emu, named from the first syllables of the insurer's own name, and gave the bird a human partner called Doug.

In 2022, TikTok star Emmanuel the emu lived on a hobby farm in which US state?

Florida: Emmanuel's home was Knuckle Bump Farms in the state's south, a hobby farm that mainly raises miniature cattle, and he shot to fame by barging into its videos.

How did Emmanuel the emu keep interrupting his keeper's TikTok videos?

Pecking the camera: Taylor Blake's plea of 'Emmanuel, don't do it!' and her full-name scolding, 'Emmanuel Todd Lopez', became the running gag of the videos.

In 1934, farmers killed some 57,000 emus in six months under what kind of scheme?

A bounty: with ammunition supplied by the government, farmers did the shooting themselves and were paid for every emu they could show they had killed.

In 1932 a politician joked in parliament that the emus of the Emu War deserved what?

Medals: asked whether one would be struck for the soldiers, he replied that the honours belonged to the birds, who had 'won every round so far'.

Who went into the field with the Emu War's three gunners?

A cinematographer went along: the mission is thought to have been meant partly to show that the government stood by its struggling soldier-settlers.

Major Meredith tried to chase the emus by mounting a machine gun on what?

A truck: it could not gain on birds running at nearly 50 km/h over rough ground, and the ride was so bumpy that the gunner could not aim.

Ornithologist Dominic Serventy joked that the 'Emu command' had ordered what?

Guerrilla tactics: Serventy wrote that the emus' 'unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable small units', which made the machine guns uneconomic to use.

Which Monty Python member co-wrote a 2021 film script called The Great Emu War?

John Cleese wrote it with Rob Schneider, Jim Jefferies and others, but a rival low-budget comedy, The Emu War, beat his film into cinemas in 2023.

The farmers who demanded machine guns in 1932 were veterans of which conflict?

The First World War: its veterans had been settled on marginal wheat land that many already struggled to farm, and the Depression's collapse in wheat prices squeezed them further.

The extinct King Island emu, half mainland size, is thought to show what?

Insular dwarfism: DNA suggests the little emus were mainland stock cut off by rising seas, and their bones suggest that the smaller the island, the smaller its emus.

During the Emu War, soldiers reported that each mob of emus seemed to have its own what?

Lookout: one tall bird kept watch while the others fed on the wheat and gave the alarm at the first sign of the guns, giving the mob time to escape.

The extinct King Island emu was roughly half as big as mainland birds, so how large were its eggs?

Nearly as large: the one near-complete egg, found in a sand dune, is close to mainland size, perhaps because chicks had to hatch large enough to feed and keep warm unaided.

Emu the puppet knocked which chat-show host off his chair in 1976?

Michael Parkinson was tipped out of his chair as the puppet went for him again and again, and for years afterwards he referred to it as 'that bloody bird'.

In 2022, fans feared that TikTok's Emmanuel the emu had caught which disease?

Avian flu: an outbreak cost the farm nearly all its other birds, but Emmanuel tested negative, and his keeper blamed his collapse on the stress of losing the flock.

Emu's puppeteer died in 1999 after falling from his roof while adjusting what?

A TV aerial: he climbed up at half-time to improve the picture during Inter Milan against Manchester United in the Champions League, and slipped.

Which fellow guest warned Emu's puppeteer to keep the bird away from him during the 1976 chat-show attack?

Billy Connolly said he would break the puppeteer's arm if the bird came anywhere near him. The host himself was wrestled to the ground.

The journal Emu, founded in 1901, belongs to which organisation?

BirdLife Australia: for all its Australian bird's name, the society's flagship journal publishes research on birds from across the Southern Hemisphere.

Emu Field, a remote desert site in South Australia, was used by Britain in 1953 to test what?

Atomic bombs: two were set off on towers in October 1953 as Operation Totem, after which Britain asked for a permanent test site and was given Maralinga.

The two animals on the national arms are popularly said to suit it because neither can easily do what?

Walk backwards: it is thought the pair were chosen to stand for a nation moving forward, on the common belief that neither animal can easily back up.