Greater Rhea

From All Birds Wiki
Greater Rhea
File:Greater Rhea.png
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Infraclass: Palaeognathae
Clade: Notopalaeognathae
Superorder: Rheimorphae
Order: Rheiformes
Family: Rheidae
Genus: Rhea
Species: R. americana
Binomial name
Rhea americana
(Linnaeus, 1758)[2]
Subspecies

R. americana americana (Linnaeus, 1758)[2]
R. a. intermidia (Rotschild & Chubb, 1914)[2]
R. a. nobilis (Brodkorb, 1939)[2]
R. a. araneipes (Brodkorb, 1938)[2]
R. a. albescens (Arribálzaga & Holmberg, 1878)[2]

Distribution of subspecies

The Greater Rhea, Rhea americana, is a flightless bird found in eastern South America. One of two species in the genus Rhea, in the family Rheidae, the Greater Rhea is endemic to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Other names[edit]

"Ostrich of South America".[3] Other names for the Greater Rhea include the Grey, Common, American Rhea, ñandú (Guaraní) or ema (Portuguese).

Description[edit]

Greater Rhea is huge, and hefty ratite that's 1.70 m (5.6 ft) tall, with pale irides, base of neck and sides are blackish,[4] grey to brown and white in colour, which helps it to camouflage it.[3] Huge wings with long floppy feathers covering body.[4]

Like other ratites (large flightless birds), there is little difference between the sexes, except the male has a dark collar in the breeding season.[3] The juvenile has more grey in its plumage and is marked with dark stripes that disappear about six months after hatching.[3]

Similar species[edit]

The Lesser Rhea is shorter.[3]


Behaviour[edit]

Diet[edit]

Calls[edit]

Reproduction[edit]

Distribution/habitat[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Template:IUCN2011.1
  2. ^ a b c d e f Blake, Emmet Reid (1977). Manual of Neotropical Birds: Spheniscidae (penguins) to Laridae (gulls and allies). University of Chicago Press. pp. 8–9. ISBN 0-226-05641-4.
  3. ^ a b c d e Frances, Peter; et al. (2007). Bird: The Definitive Visual Guide. Dorling Kindersley Inc. ISBN 1564582957. {{cite book}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)
  4. ^ a b Erize, Francisco; Mata, Jorge R. Rodriguez; Rumboli, Maurice (2006). A Field Guide to the Birds of South America Non-Passerines. Harper Collins Publishers Ltd. ISBN 9780007150847.


Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]



Projects

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File:Paw 1.png This article is part of Project Aves, a All Birds project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each bird, including made-up species.
File:Greater Rhea.png This article is part of Project Rheiformes/idae, a All Birds project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each rhea, including made-up species.