Common Ostrich
Struthio camelus
Original Range and subspecies 3
Two subspecies of ostrich (Struthio camelus) used to occur in the W Palearctic. The North African ostrich (S. c. camelus) throughout North Africa and the now extinct Arabian ostrich (S. c. syriacus) in Arabia and the Levant. Ostriches currently occur in less than 1% of their original range in our region and all populations are the result of reintroductions.
Reintroduction efforts so far 4
North African Ostriches have been reintroduced into a fenced reserve in the Souss-Massa National Park in Morocco. There are also small reintroduced populations in Saudi-Arabia and Qatar, of the North African subspecies, the closest relative of the extinct Arabian Ostrich. A failed reintroduction was attempted in Israel's Negev desert region.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Lip Kee Yap, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/64565252@N00/2845564571
- (c) Stan van Remmerden, all rights reserved, uploaded by Stan van Remmerden
- Adapted by Stan van Remmerden from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struthio_camelus
- (c) Stan van Remmerden, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
More Info
iNat Map
| Status in w palearctic | 1% or less of original range |
|---|---|
| Ecological niche | Large Herbivore |
| Region | Middle East - Arabia, Middle East - Levant, North Africa - Eastern, North Africa - Western |
| Z ecotourism potential | 3 |
