Do ostriches bury their heads in the sand?
No, ostriches do not bury their heads in the sand. The myth may come from ostriches lowering their heads to turn their eggs, which are laid in holes in the ground.
Ostriches dig shallow holes in the ground as nests. Several times a day, they lower their heads into the nest to turn and adjust their eggs with their beaks. From a distance, this can look as if they have buried their heads. When threatened, ostriches may also lie flat with their necks stretched along the ground to hide.
The idea that ostriches hide their heads in the sand when scared goes back at least to the Roman writer Pliny the Elder. The phrase to bury your head in the sand, meaning to ignore a problem, comes from this myth. An ostrich that actually buried its head would be unable to breathe.
Fast and powerful
Ostriches are the largest birds in the world and cannot fly, but they can run at about 70 kilometers per hour. Instead of hiding, they usually run from danger or fight with powerful kicks that can seriously injure predators like lions.
Did You Know?
Ostriches lay the largest eggs of any living bird, weighing about 1.4 kilograms, equal to about two dozen chicken eggs.