The Ostrich

This ostrich was my favorite animal at the zoo. She has a large personality! She's in a pen together with three giraffes. She walks around with her beak partly opened most of the time. I'm not sure why she chooses to do this, but I think it makes her look like a cute little rascal. Sometimes she would lie down and take dust baths, throwing huge amounts of dust in the air and rubbing her face on the ground.

I watched her for a long time. Eventually she approached near the fence, I like to think because she wanted to get a better look at me and my partner. She'd go between taking comically large bites out of a head of lettuce and nipping at the fence. I'm not sure why she nipped at the fence, she didn't hiss or make any sounds, so I don't think we were bothering her at all. Sometimes she'd do a cute little trot around her enclosure, then return to us at the fence again.

The giraffes seemed confused by her behavior. She'd do a trot around, and the giraffes would look at her with a face of "there goes that crazy rascal again."

I quite enjoy seeing what she's up to whenever I go back to the zoo.