Struthio molybdophanes
Silhouette: T. Michael Keesey (from a photo by Jamion Blackwell) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The Somali ostrich (Struthio molybdophanes), also known as the blue-necked ostrich, is a large flightless bird native to the Horn of Africa. It is one of two living species of ostriches, the other being the common ostrich. It was also previously considered a subspecies of the common ostrich, but was identified as a distinct species in 2014. For a long time, Somalis partially domesticated some of these ostriches.
Struthio molybdophanes was first described in the Norddeutsche allgemeine Zeitung Sunday Supplement of 16 September 1883 by Anton Reichenow, who noted the ostrich's distribution as extending over the plains of Somali- and western Galla-Land on the east coast of Africa from 10 degrees north to the Equator. An examination of the mitochondrial DNA of Struthio taxa, including the extinct Arabian ostrich S. c. syriacus, has found that the... Wikipedia →
Song0:11
Ethiopia · 2015
© Andrew Spencer · XC292043 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samburu National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Meru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parque Temático Hacienda Nápoles | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 2 | Bangladesh National Zoo | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | |
| 3 | Joya Grande | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 4 | Parque del pueblo | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 5 | The Zoo Wild Life Park | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | |
| 6 | Zoologico Sahuatoba | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 7 | Unidad de Manejo Ambiental | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 8 | Parque del Centenario | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
No species of the same family or order lives in Meru National Park, so these are its closest relatives here: other birds.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Somali Ostrich sighting in Meru National Park on a given day, based on 27 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 159th most-seen of the 243 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February, June and September
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Somali Ostrich in Meru National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, the lowest month. Those are among Meru National Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain a month against 200 mm in November. May and July–August have too few records to rate.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Somali Ostrich sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Somali Ostrich sightings, Meru National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Samburu National Reserve (Kenya, about 60%) and Tsavo East National Park (Kenya, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Somali Ostrich is recorded against all the birds logged in Meru National Park (27 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
