Understanding the Behavior of Domestic Emus: A Means to Improve Their Management and Welfare—Major Behaviors and Activity Time Budgets of Adult Emus

Table 1

List of behaviors of emus and their descriptions.

Number	Behavior	Description
(I) Ingestion
(1)	Eating	Consuming the concentrate feed.
(2)	Foraging	Searching for and consuming the fodder in the field.
(3)	Picking	Picking up feed/poking on ground/pecking objects.
(4)	Voiding	Elimination of droppings.
(II) Drinking
(5)	Drinking	Touching water surface with the beak with or without gulping action.
(III) Grooming
(6)	Preening	Self-preening with the beak.
(7)	Dust bathing	Rubbing the neck or any portion of body against the ground, shaking both wings either crouching or sitting.
(8)	Feather picking	Pecking at the feathers of other emus.
(9)	Body shaking	Shaking body/wings while standing.
(10)	Head shaking	Shaking the head.
(IV) Standing
(11)	Standing	Standing with the neck in S shape and feathers flattened or straight.
(V) Locomotion
(12)	Running	Running sprints (with or without the wing extended) but not chasing other emus.
(13)	Walking	Walking with or without the wings extended.
(14)	Parallel walking	Walking together with no attempt to attack each other.
(15)	Pacing	Walking parallel to and along the fence.
(VI) Socialization
(16)	Aggression	Attacking other emus (contact between bodies by kicking/pushing).
(17)	Threatening	Standing tip-toed and making a hissing sound towards other emus.
(18)	Chasing	Chasing an emu away with or without running after it, causing it to flee, retreat, or react.
(VII) Vocalization
(19)	Drumming	Sound produced by the female emu [24, 25]
(20)	Grunting	Sound produced by the male emu [24, 25].
(21)	Distress calling	A deeper grunt produced by both male and female emus while being handled.
(VIII) Resting
(22)	Sleeping	Standing/sitting still with eyes closed (not handled or threatened by other emus).
(23)	Sitting	Crouching/sitting with or without the head raised.
(IX) Other behaviors
(24)	Yawning	Opening mouth briefly and closing it.
(25)	Pecking fences	Pecking at the fence wire or post.