page_title: Flightless bird
section_title: Ratites
hierarchical_section_title: Flightless bird / List of flightless birds / Ratites
caption_attribution_description: Español: Avestruz (Struthio camelus), Tierpark Hellabrunn, Múnich, Alemania English: Ostrich (Struthio camelus), Tierpark Hellabrunn, Munich, Germany
context_page_description: Flightless birds are birds that through evolution lost the ability to fly. There are over 60 extant species, including the well known ratites and penguins. The smallest flightless bird is the Inaccessible Island rail. The largest flightless bird, which is also the largest living bird, is the ostrich. Ostriches are farmed for their decorative feathers, meat and their skins, which are used to make leather.
  Many domesticated birds, such as the domestic chicken and domestic duck, have lost the ability to fly for extended periods, although their ancestral species, the red junglefowl and mallard, respectively, are capable of extended flight. A few particularly bred birds, such as the Broad Breasted White turkey, have become totally flightless as a result of selective breeding; the birds were bred to grow massive breast meat that weighs too much for the bird's wings to support in flight.
  Flightlessness has evolved in many different birds independently. There were families of flightless birds, such as the now extinct Phorusrhacidae, that evolved to be powerful terrestrial predators.
context_section_description: Ostriches
  Common ostrich, Struthio camelus
  Somali ostrich, Struthio molybdophanes
  Asian ostrich, Struthio asiaticus †
  Emus
  Emu, Dromaius novaehollandiae
  King Island emu, Dromaius (novaehollandiae) minor †
  Kangaroo Island emu, Dromaius (novaehollandiae) baudinianus †
  Tasmanian emu, Dromaius novaehollandiae diemenensis †
  Cassowaries
  Dwarf cassowary, Casuarius bennetti
  Southern cassowary, Casuarius casuarius
  Northern cassowary, Casuarius unappendiculatus
  Moa (Dinornithiformes) †, several species
  Elephant birds (Aepyornithiformes) †, several species
  Kiwis
  Southern brown kiwi, Apteryx australis
  Great spotted kiwi, Apteryx haastii
  North Island brown kiwi, Apteryx mantelli
  Little spotted kiwi, Apteryx owenii
  Okarito kiwi, Apteryx rowi
  Rheas
  Greater rhea, Rhea americana
  Darwin's rhea, Rhea pennata
caption: Common ostrich
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