“Like a llama, or an emu”
As Sam was going through his DK Animals book this morning, I was reminded of that lyric from the Barenaked Ladies song If I Had a Million Dollars . He, for some reason, chose the llama and the emu as his "animals of the day." Since the computer was on the table in front of him, and since he started saying "emu" aloud, I went to Wikipedia so we could both learn more.
Sam *loved* the pictures on the website and we talked about what emus eat (plants and insects including soldier and saltbush caterpillars, Bogong and cotton-boll moth larvae and ants (all new to me too :-), where they live (Australia), and that they don’t fly.
Among other things, I also learned that it is the males who do most of the chick care — starting with incubation of the eggs through the first 18 months. The father emu’s commitment to the unborn is astounding, actually — "The male becomes broody after his mate starts laying, and begins to
incubate the eggs before the laying period is complete. From this time
on, he does not eat, drink or defecate, and stands only to turn the
eggs, which he does about 10 times a day. Over eight weeks of
incubation, he will lose a third of his weight and will survive only on
stored body-fat and on any morning dew that he can reach from the nest. "