When it comes to legs ostriches are kind of like the oddballs of the bird world. They’re famous for having two legs but most people don’t know that they actually have four. That’s right ostriches have two legs just like we do but they also have two extra much shorter legs called stilts. These stilts are located right behind the ostrich’s regular legs and are used for balance.
While four legs may seem like a lot it’s actually not that uncommon for birds to have four legs. In fact most birds have four legs. The only other bird group that doesn’t have four legs are the flightless birds which includes ostriches emus and cassowaries. All of these birds have two legs like we do but they’ve lost the use of their back legs over the course of evolution.
So why do ostriches have two extra legs if they don’t use them for walking? Well it turns out that these extra legs come in handy for other things. For example when an ostrich is running its stilts help to stabilize its body. They also come in handy when an ostrich needs to make a sudden stop or turn.
In addition to being used for balance ostrich stilts are also used for defense. If an ostrich is threatened by a predator it will sometimes kick its stilts forward in an attempt to hit the predator. Ostriches also use their stilts to help them fight other ostriches. During these fights the ostriches will kick at each other with their stilts in an attempt to knock their opponent over.
So there you have it! Ostriches have four legs two of which are used for walking and two of which are used for balance and defense. Who would have thought that such a big bird could be so odd?
How many legs does an ostrich have?
an ostrich has two legs.
