Birds: Emu

Birds: Emu

We saw our first adult Emu at the Port Douglas Wildlife Park, in Queensland, Australia. The park ranger and wildlife guide said to us:

“The Emu is a fascinating flightless bird. It shares one interesting quality with the Kangaroo: neither one can move backwards. They only move forward, never bounding or walking backwards; which is the reason why Australians selected them both as symbols for our Aussie Coat of Arms: forward only.” 

Interesting remark, indeed, though I cannot guarantee its authenticity. We only saw the Emus walking forward and they were quite large and intimidating to our daughters, so we did not confront them and challenge their path to see if our interruption would make them walk backwards or turn around. We decided to take the guide’s word for it.

The third largest flightless bird in the world, the emu is behind only the ostrich and cassowary in size and ferocity. It is not seen as an aggressive bird, though it can be intimidating when protecting its young. Even when they are juveniles they have some fierceness about them.

Juvenile Emu

Australian Coat of Arms

Now with the crazy number of television and social media ads for Liberty Mutual Insurance, and their Emu mascot, it is hard to get through the TV/device glued day without seeing an ad for one.

So It Goes!!!