In mass culture, the idea was assigned that in case of danger, ostriches behave very strange. We figured out how much this view is true.

Rostings are unusual birds, so it is not surprising that their behavior can be unusual. The Internet is full of drawings and photographs of ostriches in an unprofitable position - head downward, backward. The same behavior of ostriches can be observed in the popular Soviet cartoon "Wings, legs and tails" and American animated series Jungle Cubs Based on the "Book of the Jungle" Kipling.

In Russian and many other languages, it gave rise to phraseologism “hide your head in the sand”, which is used to cowardly and indecisive people. Dostoevsky in the story of 1846 "Double" He wrote: "He burned with shame and buried his victorious head in the paper, completely with the very goal with which the ostrich pursued by the hunter hides his own in hot sand." The Russian -speaking Wikipedia says: “The common opinion that ostriches hide their heads in the sand, fleeing from predators, originates in the works of the Roman thinker Pliny the elder, in the records of which we read: "ostriches imagine that when they put their heads and neck in the ground, their whole body seems to be hidden."

In “Natural History”, Pliny Senior really talks about the mental abilities of ostriches: “Their stupidity is no less remarkable; Although their body is great, they imagine that, having put their heads and neck in the bushes, make the whole body invisible. ” Most likely, the author of the article in Wikipedia I was mistaken in the translation and instead of the "bushes" wrote "Earth", and the authors of other publications, for example "Arguments and facts", did not double -test the quote for English translation. However, the sand is mentioned in a sustainable expression. So it is unlikely that only a quote from Pliny can explain the occurrence of a stereotype.

The ostriches are really very awkward outwardly, disproportionate and do not know how to fly. At the same time, birds are able to turn their own shortcomings into advantages - for example, a long neck and large eyes allow them to notice an approaching predator at a great distance, from which you can escape due to no less long legs. If the ability to develop speeds up to 65 km/h is not enough and you have to defend yourself, huge sharp claws on the paws can enter into business.

It turns out that the ostrich has an impressive arsenal for self -defense. Why, in this case, the bird should hide the head in the ground and hope that it will not be noticed? Moreover, it is quite difficult not to notice an ostrich. However, some of the main enemies of these birds are cheetahs that surpass ostriches in speed. In case of meeting with them, ostriches sometimes try to disguise themselves, but they still do not hide their heads in the sand:

There are several explanations why such a stereotype appeared in culture. Specialists from the San Diego zoo claim that this is just due to one of the camouflage tactics in a possible attack. The ostrich sinks to the ground and pulls its neck and head on it, and because of the similarity of coloring with the color of the sand, vision is created. Scientist Karl Krushelnitsky He thinksThat the myth appeared due to the behavioral feature of ostriches: for better digestion, they eat gravel and small pebbles.

Charlotte roots, scientific journalist BBC, Curses Another explanation. Ostriches lay eggs in specially dug holes and sometimes put their heads there to rotate eggs for uniform temperature distribution. This is an opinion shares And Stephen Lovgren. In the material for National Geographic The journalist draws attention to the fact that sometimes ostriches simply lower their head very low to check if the predator has hidden in bushes or grass. You can make sure that you look at a sweet video about how the ostrich leads its family on a watering system, first checking to see if there is a danger: