Although it cannot fly, for size and strength no bird can match the 300-pound, 8-foot-tall ostrich of Africa. Neither can a rider on a horse match its 50-miles-per-hour speed across the desert. The female is called a dun and to raise a family lays half a dozen or more ivory-colored eggs (each one 24 times as large as a hen’s egg) in a hole scraped in the sand. She sits on them during the day or, as the above verse says, leaves them exposed to the hot sun. The male takes over incubating them at night.
The ostrich is a very hardy bird; some live up to 70 years. Those in the wild usually live in flocks of 100 or more and peacefully share the open spaces with zebras, giraffes and other animals. If necessary, they defend themselves with their strong legs — a well-directed kick either killing or discouraging any attacker.
Its appearance seems strange indeed. Its long, bare legs with ankles like knees and its manner of walking on the two padded toes of each foot, with head held high, give an almost mechanical appearance. Short, heavily feathered wings give it a football-shaped body, and its bulky feathered tail looks like it was just stuck on to help balance it. Topping it all is a long, naked neck with a flat, hairy head having bulgy eyes and a wide beak, all combining to look like a periscope. In fact, this is one of the Creator’s provisions for it, enabling it with its keen vision to see from a lofty height over miles of desert land, just as a submarine’s periscope scans the ocean.
Visitors to ostrich farms are amused to watch one swallow an unpeeled orange. Down its long neck goes the orange, spiraling around, the bulge visible all the time through its skin, until it disappears at the bottom. The birds are also sometimes tamed and ridden by people brave enough to try. But, as no saddle is provided, it takes an experienced person to be able to ride very far without sliding off over its tail.
Why do you think the Lord God created such an odd bird? We might ask the same question about some unusual fish, or the platypus, or an opossum, or strange insects, or other unusual birds. Do you not suppose that as the Supreme Designer of the universe it was never. His purpose to make every animal, fish, bird, or even every person alike? How monotonous that would be! The same is true of flowers, vegetables, trees, etc. How grateful we should be that He included such a wide difference in all He has made — another example of His wisdom.
And remember, too, that He did not leave anything to the chance that “evolution” would improve on it. No, for after every part of creation was brought into being, the Bible tells us, “God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.” No improvements have been necessary.
ML-02/14/1988