The Somali ostrich – Struthio molybdophanes is a very large flightless Landbird of the ostrich family Struthionidae and of the Order Struthioniformes. It is native and localised to the Horn of Africa (hence the name) and was elevated from being a subspecies of the Common Ostrich, to a full species in 2014. The main factor in the separation from the Common ostrich was the barrier of the Great Rift Valley which led to the development of a new species in the area E of the Great Rift Valley and the Horn of Africa. In the AWB Region it is resident in coastal Eritrea, Djibouti, Somaliland and N Somalia. The main visual feature that identifies the Somali Ostrich from the Common Ostrich is their blue/grey neck and legs.
Order..: Stuthioniformes Family.: Struthionidae Genus..: Struthio
Species: Struthio molybdophanes Somali ostrich - Species - ebird.org Somali ostrich - Species sheet - wikipedia.org Somali ostrich - Blog - scientificamerican.com Somali ostrich - Pages - eol.org Somali ostrich - Sounds & Maps - xeno-canto.org
Additional Material... Somali ostrich - Images - google.com Somali ostrich - Video - youtube.com Somali ostrich - Datazone - birdlife.org