Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Common ostrich
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==="Head in the sand" misconception=== [[List of common misconceptions|Contrary to popular assumptions]], ostriches do not bury their heads in sand to avoid danger.<ref name=Gosselin/> This misconception likely began with [[Pliny the Elder]] (23β79 CE), who wrote that ostriches "imagine, when they have thrust their head and neck into a bush, that the whole of their body is concealed."<ref name=Kruszelnicki/> This may have been a misunderstanding of their sticking their heads in the sand to swallow sand and pebbles to help digest their fibrous food,<ref name=Kreibich/> or, as [[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]] suggests, of the defensive behavior of lying low, so that they may appear from a distance to have their head buried.<ref name=NationalGeog/> Another possible origin for the assumption lies with the fact that ostriches keep their eggs in holes in the sand instead of nests and must rotate them using their beaks during incubation; digging the hole, placing the eggs, and rotating them might each be mistaken for an attempt to bury their heads in the sand.<ref name="ScienceWorldHeadSand">{{cite web|title=Do ostriches really bury their heads in the sand?|url=https://www.scienceworld.ca/blog/do-ostriches-really-bury-their-heads-sand|website=Science World British Columbia|access-date=2 January 2017|date=11 December 2015}}</ref>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)