Common Ostrich vs Midday Jird

Struthio camelus compared with Meriones meridianus

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Common Ostrich	Midday Jird
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (Chordates)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Struthioniformes (Struthioniformes)	Rodentia (Rodents)
Family	Struthionidae	Muridae (Mice & Rats)
Genus	Struthio	Meriones
Species	Struthio camelus	Meriones meridianus

Evolutionary Relationship

Common Ostrich and Midday Jird share a common ancestor at the Phylum level: Chordata. (Chordates)

Conservation Status

Common Ostrich

LC — Least Concern

Trend: Stable →

Midday Jird

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Common Ostrich	Midday Jird
Diet	Omnivore	—
Average Lifespan	45 years	—
Average Length	2.1 m	—
Average Weight	100.0 kg	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Common Ostrich

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, and temperate coniferous forests, among 4 distinct biome types within the Indomalayan biogeographic realm. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (4 countries), Europe (5 countries), and South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru).

Midday Jird

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Common Ostrich

The world's largest and heaviest living bird, common ostriches stand up to 2.8 meters tall and weigh 156 kg, inhabiting savannas and semi-arid plains of Africa. Flightless, they compensate with powerful long legs capable of delivering lethal kicks and sustaining running speeds of 70 km/h — the fastest of any bird. Their large eyes are the biggest of any land vertebrate. Ostriches lay the largest eggs of any living bird.