The Greater Rhea has large eggs, but they are not as large as ostrich eggs.
When a female Rhea lays an egg, it is greenish-yellow at first, and quickly changes to dull creamy-white.
A Rhea egg measures about 13 centimetres (5 inches) long and 9 centimetres (3.5 inches) high, which is half the size of an ostrich egg, and almost twice the size of a chicken egg.
A Rhea egg weighs 600 grams (21 ounces) which is half the weight of an ostrich egg, and about 10 times the weight of a chicken’s egg.
The female Greater Rhea (Rhea americana) lays 5-10 large eggs. The male looks after the eggs of several females in one nest. He may look after as many as 80 eggs. They hatch after 29-43 days.
In comparison with the Greater Rhea’s dull creamy-white egg, an ostrich egg is shiny creamy-white, and an emu egg is dark green.
Photographer: Martina Nicolls
Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM