Dromaius novaehollandiae
Nutrition
Emus are omnivorous birds, which means that it eats both plants and animals. The main sources of food for emus is grains, flowers, berries, insects, grubs, fruits, seeds, leaves, grasses, and plants. It will also eat its own droppings if there are undigested seeds in the droppings. The insects that the emus eat include grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, crickets, and ants. It will sometimes eat lizards, snakes, small rodents, land snails, and small marsupials. It eats water plants like duckweed and filamentous algae.
The emu ingests large pebbles or charcoal to help grind the food in
its gizzard. The stretching of the esophagus and the
proventriculus help the
emus with food storage. When the emu has
plenty of food, it will store fat to live off of until it can find a new
source of food.
Emus have to drink water everyday. They also get water from the plants that they eat. Emus forage by ripping off vegetation, flinging its head back, and swallowing the food whole. Its strong, wedge-shaped beak is serrated along the bottom edge. It will eat pretty much anything if it has to.
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