Getting to Know the Emu Trivia Quiz

Answer: brown

The body of an emu has brown plumage that looks shaggy more than feathery. The feathers' tips are black, which help provide insulation against solar radiation. The legs of an emu are free of feathers, while the neck has sparse feathers, which look bluish in color.

Answer: Ratites

Members of ratites are birds that are both large and unable to fly. They can be found in places such as Australia, New Zealand, and Africa. Several of these ratites are extinct. Ostriches are another example of a bird in the ratite family.

Answer: The female courts the male

The female emus fluff their feathers and vocalize with low haunting calls around the male in the attempt of attracting the male to mate. The female will then circle the male whilst looking at him and placing her rear end towards him. Females will fight each other for the attention of a male and can be extremely aggressive in the process.

Answer: The male sits on the nest

The male emu builds the nest for the female to lay the eggs. The male emu becomes broody and incubates the eggs, which can take up to eight weeks. The male, during this time, doesn't leave the nest, resulting in him neither eating or drinking during that period and losing a substantial amount of weight.

Answer: emerald green

The outer layer of an emu egg is emerald green and can sometimes appear black. If the outer layer is removed, a teal layer is revealed. Underneath that layer, a person would find a white layer. Altogether, the egg weighs between half a kilogram and one kilogram. Each female emu can lay between 20 and 50 eggs per breeding season.

Because of their color, emu eggs are highly sought after by collectors and by artists who sculpt them into decorative pieces.

Answer: to aid in digestion

Emus eat stones to aid in the grinding of food in their gizzards. This means they have a highly adaptable digestion and can store up to 700 grams of stones in their gizzards at one time. These stones are called gastroliths.

Answer: walking backwards

The emu is incapable of walking backwards. The emu has powerful legs and is the only bird to have a gastrocnemius muscle, which is a large muscle on the back part of the lower leg also found in humans. This enables it to have long strides when walking and an even longer stride of up to nine feet when running.

Answer: black and white stripes

When the chicks have hatched they have a white and black striping, which gives them camouflage in the arid areas. The emu chicks will be 25 centimeters tall and they have a rapid growth rate, becoming 60 centimeters tall by three months and at six months are 130 plus centimeters. By six months the feathers will have changed to the adult coloring.

Answer: as an anesthetic

The oil from an emu comes from its fat. Two of the key natural ingredients found in emu oil are linolenic acid and oleic acid. The oil has properties similar to mineral oil. It can also be used as a substitute for fish oil vitamins. The odorless emu oil won't give a person fishy smelling burps like fish oil has been known to cause.

Answer: for their hunting skills

Emus are a strong long living bird that do not require prime farm land to be raised and their feed cost is relatively inexpensive. Their meat is low fat and low cholesterol red meat. Their leather can be made into just about any type of wearing apparel and their eggs can be sold with their value depending on their size and richness of color.