Common Ostrich vs small tortoiseshell

Struthio camelus compared with Aglais urticae

Key Differences

• Common Ostrich is Least Concern while small tortoiseshell is Near Threatened.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Common Ostrich	small tortoiseshell
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Insecta (Insects)
Order	Struthioniformes (Struthioniformes)	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)
Family	Struthionidae	Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)
Genus	Struthio	Aglais
Species	Struthio camelus	Aglais urticae

Evolutionary Relationship

Common Ostrich and small tortoiseshell share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Animalia. (Animals)

Conservation Status

Common Ostrich

LC — Least Concern

Trend: Stable →

small tortoiseshell

NT — Near Threatened

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Common Ostrich	small tortoiseshell
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).

small tortoiseshell

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Found across Europe (41 countries). Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.

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.

small tortoiseshell

small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) is classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List. Close to qualifying as threatened, with populations that may become vulnerable without conservation action.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 5 countries:

🇧🇪 Belgium 🇫🇷 France 🇳🇱 Netherlands 🇳🇴 Norway 🇬🇧 United Kingdom