The Ostrich and the Stork
OTHER than the fact that both are large, winged, and feathered creatures with long legs, the stork and the ostrich have very little in common. In many ways they are opposites.
In flight the stork is the very picture of grace. Its enormous wingspan can reach 8.5 feet (2.6 m). With their marvelous flying power, some storks winter in distant lands to the south. Ostriches are not so blessed. Their large bodies remain earthbound even when their wings flap furiously. Thus the Bible asks: “Has the wing of the female ostrich flapped joyously, or has she the pinions of a stork and the plumage?”—Job 39:13.
When angered or frightened, however, an ostrich can run as fast as 40 miles per hour (64 km/hr) with the help of its wings. As the Bible states: “At the time she flaps her wings on high, she laughs at the horse and at its rider.” (Job 39:18) One observer watched an ostrich chase a horse, giving it powerful kicks.
The two birds also have contrasting traits. The name for stork in Hebrew is derived from a word meaning “loving-kindness,” or “loyal love.” How appropriate this name is! After separating for migration, a pair of storks will reunite at the same nest year after year. They share in rebuilding the nest, incubating the eggs, and caring for newly hatched chicks. The brood usually numbers four, and for many weeks, the parents are kept busy feeding them. “Not until they are two months old,” states the Larousse Encyclopedia of Animal Life, “are the young storks able to make their first flight, accompanied by their parents, who still watch over them and teach them to hunt.”
Ostriches, by contrast, are polygamous, and the hens are not overly concerned about their eggs. These are gathered into a communal nest, but some are left outside. When ostriches sense danger, they temporarily abandon their eggs or chicks.
Such seeming neglect harmonizes with the Bible’s description of the female ostrich: “She leaves her eggs to the earth itself . . . And she forgets that some foot may crush them . . . She does treat her sons roughly, as if not hers.” (Job 39:14-16) “Few readers of the Bible realize how exact is this passage,” state ornithologists Dr. R. C. Murphy and Dr. D. Amadon.
Ostriches have a small head, and their brain is the size of a walnut. This explains why zoo director Terry Murphy wrote: “If there is one species that is an exception to the rule that birds are intelligent creatures it is the ostrich.”
In his book Some of My Best Friends Are Animals, Murphy describes how one ostrich slept close to the fence on a cold night and froze to death. Another was strangled to death by entangling its neck between two bars of the fence. “But the most ridiculous thing about them,’’ wrote Murphy, “is the things they eat.”
Recently, while trying to get a closeup picture of an ostrich, a tourist had his camera wrenched from his grasp. In dismay he watched it slowly descend down the ostrich’s long neck! The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats lists the following items discovered in the stomach of one specimen: “A 3 ft long piece of rope, a spool of film, an alarm-clock key, a cycle valve, a pencil, a comb, three gloves, a handkerchief, glove-fasteners, pieces of a gold necklace, two collar-studs, a Belgian franc, two farthings and four halfpennies.”
Appropriately, the Bible speaks of the female ostrich: “God has made her forget wisdom.” (Job 39:17) Does this imply that an error was made by the Creator? By no means. Actually, the seeming neglect of the ostrich works for its preservation. Those eggs carelessly left outside a nest are sometimes needed to feed new chicks. Also, since the ostrich has no teeth, natural objects swallowed, like stones, are an important aid to digestion.
When an ostrich abandons its eggs or chicks, this distracts enemies. Sometimes ostriches display amazing bravery when doing this. One ostrich, on seeing an approaching truck, abandoned her chicks and ran toward the vehicle! She then veered to the side of it with one of her wings sagging, feigning injury.
The ostrich and the stork draw attention to the unfathomable mental resources of the One who designed them so differently. (Romans 11:33) As the psalmist exclaimed: “How many your works are, O Jehovah! All of them in wisdom you have made.”—Psalm 104:24.
[Pictures on page 16, 17]
Marabou stork
Ostrich
Saddle-bill stork
Wood stork