Arriving on the 25th February we welcomed a new Ostrich to Colchester Zoo, he is settling in well and has joined our two resident female Ostriches in the Kingdom of Wild paddock.

He has joined us from Marwell Zoo at 3 ½ years old but is yet to be given a name by our keepers. A male Ostrich is the heaviest living bird species with the largest eyes of any land animal measuring almost 5cm in diameter!

Despite being unable to fly these birds have extremely powerful legs helping the Ostrich to run incredibly fast on just two toes!These recognisable birds live on plants and roots but will also eat insects too!

Although the current status of the Ostrich population is not globally threatened, their numbers are decreasing and we hope that with the arrival of our new male, our Ostriches will become a successful breeding group in the future.

You can visit him and his new neighbours at the Kingdom of Wild paddock.

If you have any suggestions of what we should call him let us know on Facebook or Twitter.