ABSTRACT
Ostrich is a monotypic family, relatively recently extinct in Arabia, and now surviving only in Africa, mainly S of the Sahara. The Ostrich is Kenya's only flightless bird. It avoids large mammalian predators by means of its speed and keen eyesight. The Ostrich is not endangered in Kenya. The use of its eggs for food or tourist souvenirs is illegal, and of negligible extent. It is obviously expelled by widespread cultivation and settlement, but this is not a factor over most of its range. The highest density known is attained in the protection of Nairobi NP 75B. The Somali Ostrich S.c. molybdophanes of N and E Kenya and the Maasai Ostrich S.c. massaicus of more SW areas may be approaching or at species status in view of interbreeding difficulties when molybdophanes was introduced into the range of massaicus in Nairobi NP 75B, although fertile hybrids were produced, and their apparently differing habitat preferences.
