What Do Ostriches Eat?

The ostrich is the planet’s largest living bird. A big male can stand 9 feet tall and weigh over 300 pounds, and the female lays the world’s biggest egg. The ostrich’s looks are a mix of the beautiful and the homely and hint at its dinosaur origins. The neck is long and barely covered with down, the eyes huge with long lashes, the legs long and scaly.

One of its two ugly toes ends in what looks like a hoof. Yet the feathers are soft and fluffy, as they lack the barbs most feathers have.

The white plumes of the male’s wings and tail were sought after by milliners and nearly led to the ostrich joining other huge flightless birds such as the giant moa on the extinction list.

The bird is still raised in captivity for its feathers as well as its nutritious eggs, venison-like meat, and its hide, which makes a nice leather.

There are only two ostrich species left out of nine, and they are Struthio camelus, the common ostrich, and Struthio molybdophanes, the Somali ostrich. The common ostrich is the largest of the two.

So, what sort of diet does this gigantic bird need to eat to keep it hale and hearty?

Read on to learn.

What Foods Do Ostriches Eat?

In the wild, an Ostriches diets consist of about 60% plant material, 15% fruits or beans, 5% insects such as bugs or small sized animals. Ostriches often eat about 20% of grain, salts, and even stones!

The ostrich is ultimately an omnivore, but it mostly eats plant material. These are:

• Flowers
• Berries
• Roots
• Green grass
• Seeds
• Leaves of shrubs and bushes
• Sprouts
• Nuts
• Succulents

But since it’s an omnivore, the ostrich has also been known to eat:

• Insects, including crickets and locusts
• Small tortoises
• Lizards
• Small rodents
• Snakes
• Frogs

They’ll also scavenge the bodies of animals killed by large predators such as lions.

Ostriches swallow sand and small rocks that become gastroliths. They do this both in the wild and in captivity. Gastroliths help the bird, which is toothless, grind up its food. Yet, the ostrich lacks a crop, which is a sort of pouch in the top part of the GI tract that stores food until it’s ready to be digested.

Many types of flightless birds lack a crop. The ostrich also doesn’t have a gall bladder.

What Animals Eat Ostriches?

Very few animals, even large carnivores, will tackle a grown ostrich. It can run over 50 miles per hour for one thing, and if it’s cornered, it can deliver a potentially fatal kick with its long and powerful legs.

The one predator that can take on an ostrich is the human, which is a reason why most ostrich species are extinct and why the conservation status of the Somali ostrich is listed as vulnerable in the wild.

Natural predators of ostriches include:

• Crocodiles
• Lions
• Leopards
• African wild dogs
• Hyenas
• Cheetahs

Even these apex predators have better luck with a young or baby ostrich than they would with an adult. Smaller predators have better luck stealing eggs or chicks. These include:

• Birds of prey
• Mongoose
• Jackals
• Warthogs

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