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Rhea Eggs at the Brandywine Zoo
By Pricilla Welch, Animal Keeper at the Brandywine Zoo
If you have visited the zoo this spring you might have noticed something strange in the llama and rhea exhibit. This past two months the rheas have been laying a lot of eggs! But we are not expecting any baby rheas anytime soon, because our rheas, here at the Brandywine zoo, are all girls. The flightless Greater Rhea, also known as the Gray, Common, or American Rhea is not only the largest species of Rhea but also the largest American bird. The Greater Rhea lives on the pampas, and open woodlands in the south-eastern part of South America. The breeding season for the greater rhea ranges from August to January in South America, April to August in North America.
If you have noticed the large yellow eggs the rheas have been laying you might also have noticed that the rheas have not built a nest for them. Female rheas in the wild don't make very good mothers. In fact it is the male rheas that care for the young. In the wild rheas are polygamous, with males courting between two to twelve females. After mating, the male builds a nest, in which each female lays her eggs. The male incubates from ten to sixty eggs; the chicks hatch within 36 hours of each other. The females, meanwhile, may move on and mate with other males. The male rheas are extremely protective of their young and will charge at any other animal, including female rheas, that come anywhere near their babies.
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