--- title: Myth check: do ostriches bury their heads in the sand? — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Myth check: do ostriches bury their heads in the sand?», a lesson of the biology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: In cartoons a scared ostrich pushes its head into the sand and thinks it is hidden, with its fluffy bottom still st --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/) / Myth check: do ostriches bury their he… # Myth check: do ostriches bury their heads in the sand? Lesson 151 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/0/) — In cartoons a scared ostrich pushes its head into the sand and thinks it is hidden, with its fluffy bottom still sticking up in the air. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/1/) — Real ostriches never do this: a bird with its head under sand could not breathe, and it would be easy prey for a lion. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/2/) — The myth probably grew from what people saw from far away: an ostrich bending down to turn its eggs in a pit in the ground, or lying flat with its neck along the soil, looks headless. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/3/) — A real ostrich in danger does something much cleverer: it runs at about 70 km per hour, kicks with a clawed foot, or lies flat so its brown-grey feathers blend with the ground. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/4/) — Ostriches do not bury their heads in sand; they could not breathe, and it would not make them safer. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/5/) — Ostriches lay their eggs in a shallow pit scraped in the ground and several times a day put their heads in to turn the eggs with their beaks, so the eggs warm evenly and the chick does not stick to the shell. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/6/) — An ostrich that senses danger and cannot run may lie flat with its neck on the ground, so it is hard to spot from far away. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/7/) — Ostriches can run at about 70 km per hour, faster than any other bird on land, with strides of about 4 to 5 metres. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/8/) — An ostrich kicks forwards and down, and a kick from its clawed foot can badly injure or even kill a lion or a person. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/9/) — Ostriches have only two toes on each foot, fewer than any other bird. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/10/) — An ostrich egg is the largest egg of any living bird, about 15 centimetres long and as heavy as about 20 to 24 hen's eggs; its shell is so strong that a grown-up can stand on it. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/11/) — An ostrich's eye is about 5 centimetres across, the biggest of any land animal and bigger than its own brain. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/12/) — Ostriches swallow pebbles, which collect in the gizzard and grind tough food, because birds have no teeth. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/13/) — «Burying your head in the sand» means pretending a problem is not there; the saying comes from the myth, not from real ostriches. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/14/) — Ostrich chicks from several nests may be gathered into one big group looked after by a few adults, and chicks can run fast within days of hatching. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/15/) — Ostriches cannot fly, but their wings help them balance, steer and turn sharply when running, shade their chicks and cool them on hot days. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/151-ostriches-and-heads-in-the-sand/16/) — The Roman writer Pliny the Elder wrote almost 2,000 years ago that ostriches hide their heads in bushes, and the story grew from there. - ← previous: [Myth check: do lemmings jump off cliffs?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/150-myth-check-do-lemmings-jump-off-cliffs/) - next →: [Myth check: do goldfish have a three-second memory?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/152-goldfish-memory/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/)