Ostrich eggs in the Kalahari Desert, Namibia
Think how much easier an Easter egg hunt would be if you were using the biggest eggs in the world: Ostrich eggs!
It’s not surprising that ostriches lay the largest eggs; they are the tallest and heaviest birds on the planet. We saw this abandoned ostrich nest while we were staying at the Anib Lodge in the Kalahari Desert in Namibia. Multiple females will lay their fertilized eggs in the same communal nest!
Ostrich eggs are so thick and strong that a human can stand on top of them without breaking them, as demonstrated below by our guide at the Anib.
Guide standing on ostrich eggs in an abandoned ostrich nest. Kalahari Desert, Namibia.
The other huge flightless birds also lay very large eggs (the Cassowaries, the Emu, & the Rheas). The Kiwis, another member of the Ratite family, are much smaller but also lay a huge egg. They have the largest egg-size to body-size ratio of any bird. About 20% of the mother’s weight! So ostriches actually have it pretty easy at a mere 2% of the mother’s weight.
What was the largest egg ever? Nope, it wasn’t a dinosaur. It was another bird that went extinct not all that long ago. The Elephant Bird looked like an even larger version of the ostrich (11 feet tall) and lived in Madagascar. It laid an egg that was a foot long and eight inches wide. Bigger than your head! The largest complete Elephant Bird egg was just sold at auction this month for $100,000.
An ostrich family walking down the road in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa
Do you want to see ostriches in the wild? Check out our post on how to travel to the Central Kalahari.
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