Ostriches are the world’s largest birds, native to the arid savannas and deserts of Africa. These flightless creatures have developed unique dietary habits to thrive. Understanding their feeding behaviors reveals how they sustain themselves and adapt to resources.
The Ostrich’s Natural Menu
Wild ostriches are primarily herbivorous, but they exhibit opportunistic omnivorous tendencies, consuming a varied diet based on availability. Their diet consists mostly of plant matter, including green grasses, wild leaves, shrubs, flowers, roots, berries, succulents, and nuts. Approximately 60% of their intake comprises leafy plant material, with fruits and legumes making up about 15%.
Beyond plants, ostriches supplement their diet with smaller animal life, accounting for around 5% of their food intake. This includes insects like locusts, beetles, grasshoppers, and moths. They may also consume small reptiles such as snakes and lizards, and occasionally small rodents like mice and rats. While not active hunters, ostriches will scavenge on animal remains left by other predators.
How Ostriches Eat and Digest
Ostriches lack teeth, so they swallow their food whole, pecking items. To compensate, ostriches have a specialized digestive system for their fibrous diet. Food first enters the proventriculus (a glandular stomach) before moving into the ventriculus, or gizzard.
The gizzard is a muscular grinding mill. Ostriches swallow small stones, pebbles, and grit (gastroliths), stored in the gizzard. These gastroliths, with muscular contractions, grind and break down tough plant material. An adult ostrich can carry up to 1.5 kilograms of these stones. Over time, gastroliths wear down and are passed, prompting the ostrich to ingest new ones.
Diet in the Wild and in Captivity
In the wild, the diet of ostriches is highly adaptable, fluctuating with seasonal availability. They can endure periods of up to two or three days without eating and over two weeks without drinking water, as they derive moisture from food. Their continuous foraging allows them to utilize diverse food sources.
In captivity, an ostrich’s diet is carefully managed for balanced nutrition. Their primary food source is often commercial ostrich feed pellets (up to 80% of daily intake). Pellets are supplemented with hay, fresh green forage, and chopped fruits and vegetables (e.g., carrots, cabbage, oranges) for vitamins and minerals. Adult captive ostriches consume 1.3 to 1.8 kilograms of food daily and are provided grit or stones for digestion.
Avoid overfeeding (can lead to obesity), processed human foods, leftovers, or large, unchopped produce (choking hazard). Harmful items like onion, avocado, and cotton seed products should also be avoided.