Ostriches are rapid runners and can attain about 65 km/h (about 40 mph). The males are polygamous and travel about in hot, sandy areas with three or four females, or in groups of four or five males accompanied by mates and young. The females lay their yellowish-white eggs together in a single large depression in the sand. The eggs weigh about 1.4 kg (about 3 lb) each and have a volume of about 1.4 liters (about 3 pt). The male sits on them at night, and the female incubates them by day.
In the last half of the 19th century ostrich farming, or the breeding of domesticated ostriches for their plumes, was carried on extensively in South Africa, Algeria, Australia, France, and the United States. Ostrich plumes were used in hatmaking and dressmaking. Farming declined as the demand for ostrich plumes became almost negligible; however, the introduction of ostrich hide as a luxury leather has renewed interest in ostrich farming. The so-called American ostrich is actually a rhea.
Scientific classification: The ostrich makes up the family Struthionidae in the order Struthioniformes. It is classified as Struthio camelus.
