Crowdscience

Meet the ostrich, one of nature’s most unusual creatures: a two-metre-tall, flightless bird that struts about the African savannah. CrowdScience listener Pat found herself entranced by seeing them on a wildlife documentary, where two ostriches were exhibiting some bizarre behaviour. According to her, the female was sitting on her eggs in a ‘nest’ that was barely a dent in the ground, while the male was just flapping his feathers around her. So Pat came to us to ask: what are ostriches for? Anand Jagatia starts by meeting one face-to-face at Woburn Safari Park. Tom Robson, Head of Reserves at the park, gives Anand a tour of ostriches’ unique features. He discusses their status as the largest and fastest birds in the world and explains the unusual mating behaviour Pat observed on the TV programme she was watching. Next, to answer why some of these traits exist, Peter Houde from New Mexico State University dives into the ancient fossils. Peter is one of the palaeontologists who has managed to uncover the sec