How Fast Can an Ostrich Run? Speed and Stamina Facts

How fast is an ostrich in a sprint?

The figure most often given for the ostrich is a top speed of about 70 km/h (43 mph), reached in short bursts when the bird is chased or startled. Some reports suggest a little more, up to about 80 km/h (50 mph), but such numbers come from rough estimates rather than careful timing, so they should be treated with caution.

Animal Diversity Web gives a more conservative figure of up to 40 mph (about 64 km/h). Measuring wild birds is hard: speeds are often judged from vehicles driving alongside, over unknown distances. What all sources agree on is that no other living bird can run as fast.

How long can an ostrich keep running?

Speed is only half of the story. Ostriches are excellent endurance runners. They can hold around 50 km/h (31 mph) for long stretches, a pace that would quickly exhaust most predators. A cheetah is much faster in a sprint, but it can only keep its top speed for a few hundred meters.

Ostriches travel long distances on foot in search of food and water, especially in dry seasons. Their efficient running style means that covering ground costs them relatively little energy. In the breeding season and in droughts, groups of ostriches may wander widely, often traveling with zebras and antelopes across the plains.

What makes ostriches such fast runners?

Several features of the body work together:

• Long legs and huge strides. At full speed, an ostrich covers 3–5 m (10–16 ft) with each step. The lower leg bone, the tarsus, is 39–53 cm (15–21 in) long, the longest of any living bird.
• Two toes. The ostrich is the only living bird with just two toes on each foot. The large inner toe takes most of the weight and acts a little like a hoof, giving a firm push-off with less weight at the end of the leg.
• Powerful muscles high on the leg. The heavy muscles sit near the hip, while the lower leg is light and slender. A light lower leg can swing back and forth faster.
• Elastic tendons. Long tendons store energy as the foot lands and release it as the foot pushes off, like a spring. This saves effort with every stride.
• Wings as stabilizers. Ostriches cannot fly, but they spread their wings to balance when they brake, swerve or zigzag away from a predator. Learn more in Can ostriches fly?.

How does an ostrich compare with other fast animals?

The ostrich is far from the fastest animal on land, but it is in good company, and it beats every other bird and every other two-legged runner.

The cheetah is the record holder over short distances, while the pronghorn of North America combines speed with stamina. Among birds, the ostrich’s closest rivals on land are the rheas of South America and Australia’s emu, both noticeably slower. See the full ranking in fastest animals.

Why do ostriches need to run so fast?

Ostriches live in open savanna and semi-desert, where there is little cover to hide in. Lions, leopards, cheetahs, spotted hyenas and African wild dogs can all kill an ostrich. With excellent eyesight, an ostrich usually spots danger from far away, and with its speed and stamina it can leave most predators behind. Predators that succeed usually do so by ambush, before the bird can get going.

Chicks are much more vulnerable. They can run within a few days of hatching, but they depend on their parents and on hiding, crouching flat on the ground, when danger is near.

Ostrich speed facts

Fact: ostriches are the fastest two-legged animals. No other living animal that runs upright on two legs comes close, which is one reason scientists study ostriches to understand how large two-legged dinosaurs may have moved.

Fact: an ostrich could keep pace with a car in town. A sprinting ostrich reaches about the same speed as a car on a fast suburban road, 70 km/h (43 mph), although only for a short burst.

Fact: speed does not make ostriches safe from everything. Fewer than one in ten nests survives to hatching, and most chicks are taken by predators in their first year, long before they reach full running power.