I guess I never thought of South Africa having the Ostrich until I saw one running past the car while on Safari. They are impressive and watching them run flat out amazed me. They are very fast. While the kiwi lays the largest egg in relation to its body size, the ostrich lays the smallest. Despite laying an egg that is over 20 times the weight of a chicken egg, an ostrich’s egg is relatively tiny compared to its large body. Opinion seems divided between the kiwi and the bee hummingbird. Both produce an egg in the region of a quarter the size of the mother, whereas the largest bird's egg, the ostrich is only about one percent of the mother's body mass. Seeing them in the wild is a great experience.
