About the Author

James Tyrrell

Alumni

James had hardly touched a camera when he came to Londolozi, but his writing skills that complemented his Honours degree in Zoology meant that he was quickly snapped up by the Londolozi blog team. An environment rich in photographers helped him develop the ...

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13 Comments

on Ostrich Mating Season

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This is wonderful news. It will be great to see ostrich chicks at Londolozi again.

It is lovely to watch the video again. Such a heart warming story.

I know very little about the Ostrich, although I’ve seen them. I think what surprised me the most James was hearing their low bellow! Unexpected. The sound reminds me of a male lion, certainly not a Ostrich! Happy to hear more females are currently in the Londolozi area and I join with you with the hopes for second successful Ostrich family this season.

Would be amazing to see another ostrich nesting on Londolozi (maybe this year you’ll have more than one nest!)!

That’s the hope!

Though I do still think that wild dogs could den on Londolozi this year, there’s always hope!

Master Tracker

Oh wonderful

I love this! It was great to see the video again and some of your bright, smiling faces including Amy. I do miss her images and prose but know she is happily pursuing other venues.

I’m hoping for a couple of nests and look forward to seeing the little ones perhaps next fall.

I absolutely loved watching the Ostrich story. I did not realize that there were so few of them there. So four of the young survived from the clutch of about 6 of 7 babies. I am hoping to hear more about this new family and more families to come with more Ostriches coming your way. How exciting.

Hi Judy,

Out of a clutch of I think 10 or 12 eggs (I know Melvin gives the number in the video, but it escapes me now), 6 hatched, and 4 survived.
Hopefully more are on the way!

Best,
James

I assume an Ostrich only defence against a Lion is them not finding the nest or maybe distracting them away from it, but what size predator will an Ostrich actually defend a nest against?

Hi Lachlan; a great question. An ostrich has a serious kick, and I’ve seen footage of them chasing jackals and baboons away from a nest. To what extent they’d stand their ground against a larger predator I can’t say. My guess would be female leopard, as we know hyenas raided the last nest and ate some of the eggs.

Thanks for the info James…I am always amazed that any ostriches make it to adulthood given all the predators around and the fact that the eggs are sitting on the ground in the open.

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