Ostrich
| Latin name: | Assida |
| Other names: | Asida, Aspida, Assidam, Autruche, Chamoi, Estridge, Ostrice, Ostrisobe, Ostrisse, Ostruche, Strucione, Struthiocamelon, Struthione, Strutio, Strûz, Ysidam, Yssida |
| Category: | Bird |
A bird that can digest anything, even iron, but is careless of its eggs
General Attributes
The ostrich is a bird that has wings but cannot fly. It has feet like a camel's, or perhaps cloven hooves like a cow. It can digest anything, even iron. It lays its eggs when it sees the star Virgilia (the Pleiades) rising. It is careless of its eggs; it lays them on the ground and covers them with sand, then leaves them to hatch on their own, warmed by the summer sun.
Hildegard von Bingen gives an explanation for why the ostrich does not incubate her eggs like other birds: "She is of such great heat that, if she were to keep her eggs warm herself, they would be burned up, and her young would not come forth. And so she conceals them in sand, where they are warmed by its moisture and heat." (Throop)
Allegory/Moral
Just as the ostrich forgets its eggs, so should man forget the world, and as the ostrich looks to the star, so should man concentrate on heaven.
The Aberdeen Bestiary uses the chapter on the ostrich to launch into a seven page (folio 41r - 44r) sermon on hypocrisy.
Uses Magical, Medical, Alchemical and Culinary
The eggs of the ostrich are large enough to be used for drinking vessels if they are cut in half. Their feathers are used to decorate the helmets of warriors.
Hildegard von Bingen says: "A person with epilepsy should often eat ostrich flesh. It will furnish him with powers and take away the madness of the epilepsy. One who is melancholic, so that he has a heaviness and listlessness of the mind, should frequently eat ostrich liver." (Throop translation)
Reality
Ostriches were and are not found only in Australia. "The North African ostrich was the most widespread subspecies of ostrich. It formerly had an extensive range but is now thought to live in fragmented pockets in Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic and Senegal, whilst extinct in most of its range in northern Africa. Reintroduction projects for the ostriches have begun, especially in northern Sahara, where North African ostriches had been extinct for 50 years." - Wikipedia
African ostrich feet do resemble camel feet. Ostrich feet have two separate toes, one larger than the other, with a nail at the end of the larger one. Camel feet also have two toes, both approximately the same size, each with a nail at the end.
