Greater Rhea

flightless bird · South America · super tall

Tallest native bird. The greater rhea weighs 20 to 27 kilograms and is the largest bird that naturally lives in the Americas. That's about as heavy as a large dog, and it can't fly at all.

Lives in open spaces. Greater rheas make their homes in grasslands, savannas, and grassy wetlands across eastern South America where they can run freely without trees getting in their way.

Amazing dads. Greater rheas are famous for unusual parenting where males do most of the work raising chicks. This makes them pretty special among birds.

Escaped to Germany. In the 2000s and 2010s, a group of greater rheas somehow ended up living in Northern Germany, creating a wild population far from their home continent.

Long life span. In the wild, greater rheas live about 10.5 years, which gives them plenty of time to raise many families of chicks.