On this date in 1932 The Great Emu War ended. It was a military style operation to reduce the emu population in Australia, which had lasted one month, one week and one day. It didn’t work, so hundreds of emus lost their lives for nothing. Anyway, here are 10 things you might not know about emus:
The emu is the second tallest Bird in the world after the Ostrich. An emu can grow to 1.9 metres (6 ft 3 in) in height.
The Latin name for an emu is Dromaius novaehollandiae.
They can’t fly, but they do have wings, which are about the size of a human hand. They use their wings to cool themselves and also for steering when they run. They are also one of a small number of bird species with claws on their wings, along with ostriches, ducks and Swans.
They are the only birds to possess a gastrocnemius. That’s the equivalent of a human calf muscle. This helps them run at speeds of up to 30mph and jump over 6 feet off the ground. While they don’t generally choose to be in water, they can swim, too, if they have to.
The males incubate the eggs and take care of the chicks. Female emus compete for access to males, while males build nests and wait to be courted. The female lays a clutch of eggs in the male's nest over several days. Most females depart the male's territory at this point, sometimes going on to find another mate, although some stick around to defend the nest. The male incubates the eggs for 56 days, and doesn’t eat or drink during this time. When the chicks hatch he will defend them, chasing away any other emus, even the chicks’ mother, from his territory. He’ll stay with the chicks for up to two years.
Car manufacturers Audi and BMW both use emu feathers to wipe their motor vehicles before and after painting them, because the feathers are particularly effective at removing fine particles. Audi imports their emu feathers, while BMW source theirs from their emu farms in Bavaria.
While farmers in 1932 waged war on emus, some admitted the birds could actually be beneficial to farming as their diet includes grasshoppers, beetles, cockroaches, caterpillars and the burrs that entangle sheep wool.
It has been observed that when they migrate, emus are chasing rainfall. They’ll follow rain clouds or the smell of wet ground, and also listen for thunder.
According to Yuwaalaraay legend, the sun was created by throwing an emu egg into the sky; and the emu itself was created by an angry little bird which chopped the arms off a man in retaliation for annoying it.
A couple of famous emus: Comedian Rod Hull was given an emu puppet while presenting a children's breakfast television programme in Australia. He brought it back to the UK and made it part of his act. The character was given a mischievous and sometimes aggressive onstage persona, attacking celebrity guests (and Hull himself) for comic effect. More recently, an emu called Emmanuel has become very popular on social media. Emmanuel lives on a farm, and the owner, Taylor Blake, makes short videos talking about the various animals. Emmanuel has a habit of photobombing these videos and this has given rise to the phrase "Emmanuel, don't do it!"
Character birthdays
Michael Tate, the adoptive father of Power Blaster. Although having a heart condition would normally rule him out of becoming a parent in Innovia, the infant Power Blaster was a hard to place adoptee due to his uncertain origins, so an exception was made. Michael was a positive influence on the young superhero, although the heart condition killed him when Power Blaster was still a child.
Dominic Garrett, a half brother of Sebastian and political rival of Richard Miller.
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