Karen Little, age 11, of Hazlehurst, Miss., for her question:
Where does the emu live?
The emu is a native of Australia, sharing his island continent with kangaroos, wallabies, koala bears and all sorts of other strange animals. He is a bird, a large flightless bird almost as tall as the ostrich who is the biggest bird in the world.
In appearance, he is even more amazing than an ostrich. His long body, perched on sturdy legs, is somewhat hump backed. One end droops down to a fringe of fluffy tail feathers. The other end tapers up to a long neck and very small head. He is a drabbish brown color and, unlike the ostrich, his soft feathers have no commercial use.
A grown emu may stand six feet tall and tip the scales at 100 pounds. This whopping specimen is most likely a female, for she is slightly larger than her husband. The maximum weight for a flying bird is around 30 pounds. The ancestors of the emu gave up flying long ages ago, before their children became so big and heavy.
At one time there were various kinds of emu all over Australia,, on Tasmania and many of the nearby islands. The only variety remaining in large numbers is the big fellow who still runs wild on the most remote plains of Australia. Here he roams over the open prairie land, the brush and the sparsely forested regions.
Though he cannot fly, the emu is a fast and abler traveler. He can run great distances at 30 miles an hour and he is a strong swimmer. His food is vegetation of all kinds. He is especially fond of young ripening corn, a taste which has made him very unpopular with Australian ranchers.
During most of the year, the emu travels with a herd of his friends and relatives. At nesting time, the herd pairs off and the couples go off on their own to raise their families.
The emu nest is a mere hollow in the ground, but the eggs and the nesting birds are quite safes for there are no native carnivores in Australia large enough to attack them. If a dog comps around, either of the parent birds is strong enough to maim or even kill him with a well aimed kick.
Mrs. Emu lays six to sixteen large blackish green eggs and settles down to sat on the nest. This does not please the Papa bird at ally for he pokes prods scolds and finally drives her away. He feels very strongly that it is his job to incubate the eggs and he tolerates no interference. There he sits, brooding the eggs for eight long weeks.
The babies are balls of soft fluff, brown with greenish stripes. Even new Papa does not turn them over to Mamma. He educates them and teaches them how to grow up to be proper emus and when he takes thorn walking on the grassy plains, their stripey coats make them almost invisible.