The 10 Heaviest living bird species on Earth

The common ostrich (Struthio camelus), or simply ostrich, is a flightless bird native to specific large areas of Africa and the largest living bird species. It is one of two active species of ostriches, the sole living members of the genus Struthio in the ratite order of birds. They are tall birds with long legs, long necks, small heads, and large bodies. Male ostriches have black feathers with white-capped wings and tails. Female ostriches have uniformly brown feathers. Ostrich feathers are light and lacy.

The Somali ostrich is a giant flightless bird with ample bare legs, long bare necks, and head. Loose plumage is solidly black in the male, separated from the bright white tail and small wings. Females are dark brown. Somali ostrich looks similar to other ostriches. The skin of the neck and thighs of the Somali ostrich is blue (rather than pinkish), becoming bright blue on the male during the mating season. The neck lacks a specific broad white ring, and the tail feathers are white. The males are larger than the females.

A large size greyish helmet (casque) and the red wattle hanging from the neck make it easy to identify. The feathers of the body are black and hair-like. The bare skin of the head and foreneck is blue, while the rear of the neck is red. A striking bird with glossy black plumage, the adult southern cassowary has a tall, brown casque (helmet) on top of its head, a vivid blue and purple neck, long drooping red wattles, and amber eyes. The purpose of the casque is unknown, but it may indicate dominance and age as it continues to grow throughout life. The Cassowary is a large, flightless bird closely related to the emu. Although the emu is taller, the Cassowary is the heaviest bird in Australia and the second heaviest in the world after its cousin, the ostrich. It is covered in dense, two-quilled black feathers that, from a distance, look like hair.

The Emu is Australia’s tallest native bird, reaching between 1.6 m and 1.9 m when standing upright. Adult Emus are covered with fuzzy grey-brown feathers except for the neck and head, mostly naked and bluish-black. The wings are reduced, but the legs are long and powerful. They have long, strong legs and can run up to 30 miles per hour. They have long necks and short wings. The adults have brown feathers, while the chicks are striped with black, brown, and cream-colored feathers.

Emperor penguins are the largest sea birds in the Antarctic, standing 101 to 132 cm tall. They have wingspans ranging from 76 to 89 cm. These penguins have black and white bodies with stiff black wings. Their wings’ back, head, chin, throat, and dorsal parts are black. Its body is fusiform (tapered at both ends) and streamlined. A penguin has a large head, short neck, and elongated body. The tail is short, stiff, and wedge-shaped. The legs and webbed feet are set far back on the body, which gives penguins their upright posture on land.

The rhea has a long neck and long legs. Its head, neck, and thighs are covered with feathers, but the bird has no tail feathers. Its plumage is mostly gray and brown with white underparts. Rheas cannot fly, but they have unusually long wings for flightless birds. Both species are considerably smaller than the ostrich; the common rhea stands about 120 cm (4 feet) tall and weighs about 20 kg (50 pounds). It has a brown or gray upper part and whitish underparts, while Darwin’s rhea is smaller in size, and its brownish plumage is tipped with white. Unlike most birds, rheas have only three toes. The emu also has three toes, but the ostrich has only two toes. A rhea’s tarsus has horizontal plates on the front of it.

Wild Turkeys have the deep, rich brown and black feathers that most people know about turkeys. Oppositely, domestic turkeys are normally white, the intentional product of domestication because white pin feathers are less prominent on the carcass. Although domestic turkeys can be bred to resemble wild turkeys closely, domestics normally are bred white to avoid darker skin coloration associated with non-white feathers. Wild turkeys rely on their dark brown and black plumage as camouflage. Domestic turkeys exhibit no fear of humans.

The dwarf cassowary’s casque is black, triangular in shape, and flattened at the back. The head and face are black, the neck is deep blue, and the shoulders are red or violet. This bird lives in the higher mountains of New Guinea, leaving the lowland rainforests to its larger cousins. It is a flightless bird with hard and stiff black plumage, a low triangular casque, pink cheek, and red patches of skin on its blue neck. It sports a single, wart-like wattle at the base of the neck. These little guys reach a respectable 3.5 feet (110 centimeters) in height and weigh almost 63 pounds (29 kilograms).

Darwin’s Rhea, Rhea pennata, also known as the Lesser Rhea, is a large flightless bird but the smaller of the two extant species of rheas. It is about 3 feet in height, weighs between 33 and 55 pounds, and is found in the Altiplano and Patagonia in South America. The appearance of a small ostrich is often referred to as the South American ostrich. The rhea has the largest wings in proportion to its body of all ratites.