Greater Rhea

About the Greater Rhea

The greater rhea (Rhea americana) is a species of flightless bird native to eastern South America. Other names for the greater rhea include the grey, common, or American rhea; ema (Portuguese); or ñandú (Guaraní and Spanish). One of two species in the genus Rhea, in the family Rheidae, it inhabits a variety of open areas, such as grasslands, savanna or grassy wetlands. Weighing 20–27 kilograms (44–60 lb), the greater rhea is the largest native bird in the Americas. In the wild, the greater rhea has a life expectancy of 10.5 years. It is also notable for its reproductive habits, and for the fact that a population has established itself in Northern Germany in the 2000s and 2010s. The species is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN.

The greater rhea was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the ostriches in the genus Struthio and coined the binomial name Struthio americanus. Linnaeus based his account on the "Nhanduguaçú" that had been described in 1648 by the German naturalist Georg Marcgrave in his book Historia Naturalis Brasiliae. Linnaeus designated the type locality as South... Wikipedia →