The ostrich (Struthio camelus), the largest living bird, is farmed intensively worldwide. However, despite the importance of understanding embryonic development in the ostrich for successful egg incubation practice, little is known about it. Using the chicken model for scaling is currently a common practice in estimating age in ostrich embryos. The aim of this study was to compare the embryonic...

introduction of ostrich (struthio camelus domesticus), a new exotic host species to a new ecosystem likeiran, necessitates the study of its infectious diseases including parasitic infestations. for a period of one year, from 2002–03, faecal samples of 254 ostriches on 5 farms located at different parts of iran, includinggarmsar, semnan province (n = 85); nashtaroud, mazandaran province (n = 29)...

BACKGROUND The ostrich (Struthio camelus) is the tallest and heaviest living bird. Ostrich meat is considered a healthy red meat, with an annual worldwide production ranging from 12,000 to 15,000 tons. As part of the avian phylogenomics project, we sequenced the ostrich genome for phylogenetic and comparative genomics analyses. The initial Illumina-based assembly of this genome had a scaffold N...

The three-dimensional structure and size of ostrich sperm is unknown. In this study, the morphology and dimensions of ostrich sperm were determined by scanning electron microscopy of semen samples obtained from sexually mature males during the breeding season. The results indicate that sperm cells of the ostrich are of the sauropsid type characteristic of non-passerine birds and, in general app...

The Ostrich is a native bird of Africa, and is highly accomplished in terrestrial locomotion in desert and grassland environments. The foot is an important segment in the ostrich body, critical for damping vibration, absorbing energy, and maintaining balance; however, detailed information on the ostrich foot is sparse. In this study, the gross anatomy of locomotor system of the ostrich foot was...

The erection mechanism of the penis in most vertebrates is blood vascular. A major evolutionary transition occurred in birds, where the erection mechanism changed from blood vascular to lymphatic. Within birds, however, the erection mechanism of the ratite penis has remained unknown. Early work suggested that the erection mechanism in ostrich Struthio camelus was blood vascular while no descrip...

The ostrich is a highly cursorial bipedal land animal with a permanently elevated metatarsophalangeal joint supported by only two toes. Although locomotor kinematics in walking and running ostriches have been examined, these studies have been largely limited to above the metatarsophalangeal joint. In this study, kinematic data of all major toe joints were collected from gaits with double suppor...

In ostriches, the toes are the only body parts that contact loose sand surfaces. Thus, toe interphalangeal joint motions may play vital biomechanical roles. However, there is little research on ostrich phalangeal joint movements while walking or running on sand. The results from the three-dimensional motion track analysis system Simi Motion show that gait pattern has no significant effect on th...