Each camp has its priest who chants prayers at appointed hours. Ogadin families are large in number. M. Sotiro's guide had 60 sons and grandsons. Their herds consist of zebu, short-haired sheep, goats, mongrel horses, milk camels, and finally, ostriches, of which the rearing is a custom among all Ogadins. Each village possesses a few dozen ostriches which graze nearby, under the watchful eye of the children.
Ostriches even lie by the fire in the huts.
Both males and females are shackled on their thighs, and follow the caravans behind the camels,which they are almost as tall as. Ostriches are plumed three or four times per year, at which time almost half a pound of black feathers, and about 60 white feathers, are plucked from each. Ostrich owners hold these feathers as extremely valuable. There are many wild ostriches. The hunters, covered in female ostrich hides,shoot the males with arrows when they approach.