OSTRICH, the fastest land speed bird. by A. Bernales

It is the largest living bird, standing over 7 feet (2 meters) high and weighing as much as 300 pounds (136 kilograms) and capable of running at full speed its pace reach 40 miles (64 kilometers) per hour.
Once abundant in Palestine and Arabia, the ostrich is now extinct in those lands, being found today in Africa. Now most ostriches are born in captivity and are farmed for their meat, feathers and hide. They can be domesticated and some even trained for pulling carts.
The ostrich is one of nature's oddities. It has a bladder collecting uric acid, an organ characteristic of mammals but not possessed by any other family of birds.
It also possessed eyelashes that protect its very large eyes from the blowing sand.
The largest of all birds, it cannot fly. Its wings are not capable of sustaining  the bird's weight and its flat breastbone lacking the "keel" that supports the flying muscles of birds of flight. The plumes, though lovely, lack the tiny hook like filaments that cling together and give the feathers of flying birds the resistance to air that makes flight possible. Nevertheless the wings useless for flight help to give lift to the bird's heavy body as it runs.
The ostrich is also unique among all birds in having two toes on each foot, one of them equipped with a claw like hoof that becomes a dangerous weapon when the bird is forced to defend itself.
Its height and keen vision enable the bird to spot its enemies from afar and warily moves away.
While mostly the bird feeds mainly on vegetation, it is also carnivorous, including snakes, lizards, and even small birds in its indiscriminate diet. Ostriches are able to endure for long periods without water and hence thrives in solitary wastelands.
The males are black and white, the females and young have a brown head and neck. The female lays the eggs (weighing three pounds = 1.4 kilograms) on the ground surrounded by a low embankment. Since the bird is polygamous, the eggs are left abandoned during daytime in hot days. The male ostrich warms the nest eggs during night.
It is a bad tempered and aggressive bird. A single kick from one of his powerful legs can break a human leg or put a right angle bend in an iron bar half an inch thick. Farmers approach an ostrich with caution, but they have found that putting a paper bag over its head has a calming effect.
The ostrich is said to "forget wisdom" and "not share in understanding." Its greatest weakness is a lack of good sense. The ostrich tends to run in a large curve, which permits its pursuers, if sufficient  in number, to surround it. But on a straight course the ostrich's powerful legs enable it to laugh at the horse and at his rider.