Tough
, unpredictable and ravenous,
the emu
(Dromaius novaehollandiae)
is an enemy
as old as Australia itself (ironically, emus are the
unofficial national birds of Australia, appearing
on its coat-of-arms). The emu is the second-
largest living bird on earth, standing six feet tall
and weighing upwards of 100 pounds, its stature
slightly smaller than its African cousin, the ostrich.
Like ostriches, they are unable to fly, and are
capable of sprinting up to an impressive 50 km/h.
Their speed can be attributed to a set of powerful
legs, which are amongst the strongest of any
animal, capable of tearing down metal fences
and fending off dingoes (their natural predators)
by jumping and stamping them on their way down
[1].
These gangling flightless birds are native to mid-
western Australia, a habitat largely unperturbed
by humanity. However, in times of dwindling food
supply, emus have a tendency of travelling lengthy
distances to reach alternative feeding areas, such
as farms, which happened to be precisely the
case in 1932.
In the aftermath of World War I, thousands
of veterans returned to Australia, prompting
the government to set up a “soldier settlement
scheme”, allocating more than 5000 ex-soldiers
to farms, where they cultivated wheat and sheep.
These new settlements were built at the expense
of emu habitats, naturally forcing them to begin
feeding on crops. With their giant webbed feet
and their duck-like black bills, emus trampled
and sheared off crops right when the harvest was
ready.
This, coupled with a nosedive in crop prices
after the Great Depression, exacerbated the
situation for the agricultural industry. Ravaged by
hordes of these marauding intruders, numerous
methods were used i n at tempt s to contai n
the emu population. Poisoning, trapping and
even shooting were met with limited success.
Desperate, the farmers turned to the army for
help.
And so, Australia declared war against its
own national bird. Soldiers equipped with Lewis
machine guns (capable of firing 500 rounds per
minute and was used extensively during WWI) and
a stockpile of 10,000 rounds of ammunition were
used in an attempt to annihilate a good portion
of the emu population. The leader, Major G. P.
W. Meredith, was so confident that he brought
along a cinematographer to capture his imminent
success.
On Nov 2, Meredith and his men camped
out in Campion, encounter ing a flock of 50
emus. Local settlers lured the herd towards the
artillery, but the emus split into small groups and
ran, rendering the bar rage of machine guns
ineffective. It soon became apparent that open
war fare was useless, as the birds “employed
guerrilla tactics” and were lightning-fast with their
retreat. Worse still, their tough feathers and blind
panic made them virtually immune to bullets – in
Emus belong to a family of flightless birds known as ratites, which
also includes their distant cousins the ostrich and New Zealand’s
kiwi. Ratites do not have the characteristic “keel” that provides the
sternum anchor that allows for wing muscle movement, marking
their inability to fly. Scientists have long believed that the ancestors
of flightless birds were also flightless, but new uncovered DNA
evidence has suggested that flightless birds may have actually
evolved from independent flying ancestors, providing an explanation
for how different ratites ended up in different areas of the Southern
hemisphere.
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