Large flightless birds of South American grasslands, just behind the emu in size. They spread their big wings like sails while running. Males court several females, and each female lays in the male’s ground nest.
Quick answers
What is it?Bird
Carnivore?Omnivore
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Daytime
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?Yes
Kept and bred on farms and ranches, like ostriches and emus.
At a glance
Found inSouth America, Europe
HabitatGrassland
ColoursGrey, Brown
SizeLarge
HeightUp to 170 cm (large greater rhea males)
WeightUp to 40 kg (greater rhea)
Legs2
Covered inFeathers
Lives inflocks
Lives for10–15 years
Can swim
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay; a small feral population lives in northeastern Germany.
Did you know
The male incubates the eggs of several females and raises all the chicks himself.
The male puts some eggs outside the nest as decoys for predators.
Rheas escaped from a farm in Germany in the late 1990s and a small wild population still lives there.
Often confused with
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