What Do Rheas Eat?

What Do Rheas Eat?

I don't know if any of you have ever experienced this, but I have found that the most irritating thing in the world is when people ask you questions that they already know the answer to.

This weekend my family and I were visiting my grandparents. We were sitting around the table eating some delicious food my grandma had cooked for us when out of nowhere my grandfather asked me this question: "So, what do rheas eat?"

Now, if you don't know what a rhea is (I didn't either, at first), it's a large flightless bird from South America that is related to ostriches and emus. But I didn't know that then. So when he asked me that question, I was a little confused. Why would he be asking me this? Did he want to learn something new? Did he not know? Maybe he thought it was funny to watch me try and figure out how to answer such a strange question!

But of course, that wasn't the reason. He knew exactly what a rhea was. In fact, as it turns out, there is a zoo about an hour from where we live with several rheas in the exhibit, and we had all been there together just about two years prior.

I saw a photo of a rhea on the internet, and it reminded me that I'd always wondered what they eat. So I looked it up:

Rheas are omnivores. They eat both plants and animals. They will eat fruits, seeds, leaves, flowers, stems, roots and tubers. They will also eat insects, worms, snails and small vertebrates (animals with backbones). Rheas may also opportunistically scavenge for carrion (dead animals).