In December of 1882, a gaggle of 22 seasick and presumably very confused ostriches stepped out of an ocean liner and onto the docks of New York City. For the last several months, these hapless birds had been making the arduous sea voyage from Cape Town to Buenos Aires, and then to New York. As discontent as these ostriches must have been, they were the lucky ones — of the 200 birds that left with them to Cape Town, nine out of ten did not survive the journey. And while the worst of their voyage was over, these ostriches had not yet reached their final destination. As soon as they disembarked in New York, they were to be loaded on a train to be shipped, via Chicago and then Omaha, to Anaheim, California, where they would become the founding members of America’s first Ostrich farm.[1]
The Ostrich: America’s Once and Future Bird
The Ostrich: America’s Once and Future Bird
The Ostrich: America’s Once and Future Bird
In December of 1882, a gaggle of 22 seasick and presumably very confused ostriches stepped out of an ocean liner and onto the docks of New York City. For the last several months, these hapless birds had been making the arduous sea voyage from Cape Town to Buenos Aires, and then to New York. As discontent as these ostriches must have been, they were the lucky ones — of the 200 birds that left with them to Cape Town, nine out of ten did not survive the journey. And while the worst of their voyage was over, these ostriches had not yet reached their final destination. As soon as they disembarked in New York, they were to be loaded on a train to be shipped, via Chicago and then Omaha, to Anaheim, California, where they would become the founding members of America’s first Ostrich farm.[1]