Some 50 million years ago, a flightless tropical bird, related to the ostrich, roamed the forests of North America. The continent was a very different place, it was a tropical forest. This subspecies became extinct as the tropical forests began to disappear. Today, their relatives can be found in continents like Africa and Australia, some of them living in the wild, and a few of them living among humans.
A well-preserved fossil of one of the ancient species of ostriches was discovered in a former lake bed in Wyoming (now blanketed in desert sands) known for its well-preserved fish fossils. Due to the delicate nature of bird bones, intact ancient bird fossils are rare. But he skeleton of the ancient ostrich was found still with some of its feathers and soft tissues preserved.
The ancient Egyptians were familiar with ancient ostriches that lived in large parts of Northern Africa (now blanketed in desert sands). They were aware of the remarkable early morning behavior of these flightless birds when they run around flapping their wings. Ahmose I was described in a stela as being "like Atem in the East of the sky when the ostriches dance in the Valleys." The ostrich feather was the symbol of the goddess Maat who wore it on her head. It was the weight of the feather against which the heart of the deceased was weighed in the Judgment of the Dead. According to Hor'Apollo: "The man rendering justice to all, was represented by the ostrich feather; because that bird, unlike others, has all its feathers equal.
The Arabian ostrich or Syrian ostrich is another extinct subspecies of the ostrich that lived on the Arabian Peninsula and in Near East until the mid-20th century. An adult ostrich with 11 offspring is featured on the famous prehistoric "Graffiti Rock I" near Riyadh (capital and most populous city of Saudi Arabia). In Mesopotamia, the ostrich was used as a sacrificial animal (ritual killing) and featured in artwork, painted on cups and othet objects made from ostrich eggs, traded as far as Etruria (Central Italy, part of what are now Tuscany, Lazio, and Umbria) during the time of the Assyrian Empire.
In China, during the Tang dynasty (618-907), an imperial dynasty preceded by the Sui and followed by the 5 Dynasties and 10 Kingdoms period and generally regarded as a high point in Chinese civilization, an Arabian ostrich was a very welcome exotic gift for an emperor. A Tang source states that the "camel bird" inhabiting Arabia is 'four chi (unit of measurement) and more in height, its feet resembling those of a camel; its neck is very strong, and men are able to ride on its back ..." . Ostriches figure in the decoration of the Qian'ling Mausoleum tomb site located in Qian County, Sha'Anxi province, formerly the Tang capital. It was built by 684, with additional construction until 706, and houses the remains of various members of the House of Li, the imperial line of the Tangs.
In Roman times, there was a demand for ostriches to use in a type of entertainment (venatio games)in amphitheaters involving the hunting and killing of wild animals, and/or cooking. The ostriches usually came from from the North African subspecies rather than from the Arabian one. The plumes of the Arabian ostrich were considered superior material for hat-making or head-wear compared to those of the North African subspecies.
After the rise of Islam, the Arabian ostrich came to represent wealth and elegance; ostrich hunting became a popular pastime for the rich and noble (if slaughtered properly, the meat is 'Halaal' to Muslims) and eggs, feathers and leather were extensively used in handicraft. Arabian ostrich products, as well as live birds, were exported to China.
The widespread introduction of firearms, later, motor vehicles marked the start of the decline towards extinction of this subspecies. Earlier hunting methods with bow, arrows and dogs had allowed most animals of a group to escape, but rifles enabled poaching and excessive game hunting to diminish the species into extinction.
In the Book of Job, chapter 39, we find these verses saying, "The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, though they cannot compare with the wings and feathers of the stork. She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand, unmindful that a foot may crush them, or that some wild animal may trample them. She treats her young harshly (Lamentation 4:3, Even jackals offer their breast to nurse their young, but My People have become heartless like ostriches in the desert), as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labor was in vain, for God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense. Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at the horse and its rider."
God reminds Job of the arrangements of growth and maturity He had engineered for the natural order that we as humans are not able to understand. Though Job did not know these principles of natural order, seeing it, he had to admit that they all seemed to work in harmony. All of this brought to him another truth: "Job meditate about it and thought, 'I see that this world made by God operates with remarkable order and wisdom; can I deny His Wisdom and Government Of All Things just because there are things in my own life I can't understand? Or, should I simply trust this God Who does all these other things so marvelous well."
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