Where Do Rheas Come From?

Where Do Rheas Come From?

From eggs, of course. But where do the eggs come from?

Not from other rheas. Rheas are similar to ostriches, and ostriches don't come from other ostriches: they come from eggs. So it stands to reason that ostriches and rheas don't hatch out of thin air; they must come from eggs too. So the answer to "where do rheas come from" is "eggs."

What about the eggs? Where do they come from?

Not from other rheas or other ostriches, because those haven't hatched yet either. They must have hatched out of eggs too. The answer to "where do rhea eggs come from" is also "eggs."

Where do the second-generation eggs come from? Again, not other rheas or other ostriches; they have not hatched yet either. They must have hatched out of third-generation eggs!

Rheas are the largest birds on the South American continent, larger than ostriches and emus. They're a kind of ostrich and have mostly the same habits. But they live in South America, while ostriches live in Africa, and emus in Australia.

Why aren't rheas found in Africa or Australia? Well, why aren't ostriches found in South America? Because the continents used to be separate. The continents were once joined together in a single landmass called Pangaea. Around 200 million years ago Pangaea broke apart. Life on Pangaea spread around the world as the continents separated. The ancestors of ostriches stayed on the part that became Africa; rheas stayed on the part that became South America; and so on.