🦤 The bird that gave up flying

The emu belongs to Australia, and it is the second-largest living bird on Earth — only the ostrich is bigger. Its wings went the other way from its legs: they are shrunk to less than 8 inches.

Basis: Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute, emu page: “Emus live only in Australia, where they are widespread”; “The emu is the second largest living bird and the largest bird found in Australia”; its “wings are tiny, reduced to less than 8 inches (20 centimeters).”

Emus are ratites — a group of flightless running birds — and running is exactly what those legs are for: an emu can sprint at about 30 miles per hour, and keep it up.

Basis: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, emu page: “The emu belongs to a group of flightless running birds known as ratites”; “They can sprint at 30 miles (48 kilometers) per hour for quite a distance.”

The eggs are dark green — and it is the father who sits on them, for about eight weeks, hardly leaving the nest and not eating or drinking while he does it.

Basis: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance: “The eggs are dark green and shiny, with small pits on the surface”; the male “stays on the nest for the next eight weeks.” Smithsonian's National Zoo: “The males incubate the eggs. During incubation, which lasts 56 days, the male doesn't eat, drink or defecate.”

Now the counting part. For this one animal USDA publishes two different state lists: how many farms keep emus, and how many emus those farms keep. The two lists do not have to crown the same state — a few farms with big flocks can beat many farms with a handful each.

Basis: USDA NASS, 2022 Census of Agriculture, publishes both “EMUS - INVENTORY” and “EMUS - OPERATIONS WITH INVENTORY” by state; this site's emu quiz uses the first and checks the second against its copy on every build.