Ostriches, which are the largest land birds, live in groups of 100 or more. Since they can’t fly, this helps them fend off predators and warn each other of danger.
Usually, each group has a dominant male and female. The leading male scrapes out a shallow nest in the mud and persuades the female to lay eggs in it. She incubates the eggs with help from the male. Other females use the same nest to lay their eggs, so a single nest may have dozens of eggs fathered by ostriches from all over the neighbourhood!
After the chicks are born, they travel everywhere with their parents, huddling under their huge wings. When they meet other groups with chicks of their own, the parents will fight, and the winning pair will ‘kidnap’ the losers’ chicks and add them to their own clutch!
Eventually, the crèche may contain 300 chicks and only a couple of adults to rear them.