Some emus have an attractive bluish hue on their mostly feather-less neck. The intensity of the color varies based on the season of the year, changes in surroundings and behavior of nearby birds. When females are getting ready to lay their eggs their head and neck are covered with black feathers.

They have two dull brown, hair-like feathers that grow out of each opening in the emu's skin. The feathers are brown but after they shed their feathers, or molting, appear nearly black. They fade to a pale brown as the emu ages (just like humans get grey hair as they get older).

The feathers are downy with no stiff vein running through the center like most other birds, which is part of why they're flightless. The feathers towards the base of the spine are longer and are set wide apart, giving it a mop-like appearance.

Emus only have tiny wings that are hidden under the feathers and are one-tenth the size of its total body. The emu's short, pointed bill and three-toed feet are brown with a flat bottom that has a broad pad. They typically have golden brown eyes.

Today emus live around the world on farms and ranches and in zoos. They can still be found running wild in the western part of Australia where the land is rugged and less-populated. Emus tend to avoid thick forest and desert areas and can live well in temperature extremes from 100º to below zero. They generally live mainly on grassy plains and dry open forests. Before humans came to Australia thousands of years ago, emus wandered all over the country.

Emus are frequently on the move from place to place looking for new water and food sources and don't stay in one place for very long. They are able to travel great distances at a fast pace. The only time they're not on the move is when the males are sitting on the eggs and a short time after the chicks are born. After the chicks get old enough the flock begins to move again, though slowly. While emus usually travel in flocks they generally prefer to be alone with little to no need for company and mutual grooming.

In the summer, when the hen finds a partner they will guard an area of about 30 square kilometers then scoop out a hole in the ground and build a nest. The nest is made of trampled grass in open or lightly covered country.

The breeding doesn't take place until cooler months. As the days get cooler and shorter, the males (or cocks) undergo a hormonal change and start to lose their appetites in preparation for sitting on the nest. The pair will mate every day or two and every second or third day the female will lay an egg in the nest.

After the seventh egg is laid the male will get broody and will start to sit on the eggs. The male will not sit on a nest until at least five eggs have been laid.

While the male emu sits on the eggs he will not eat, drink or even go to the bathroom. He can lose up to 20 pounds during this time, or about one-fifth its weight. They only stand long enough to turn the eggs, which is done about 10 times a day. Over the next eight weeks the male will survive only on accumulated body fat and the morning dew reachable from the nest.

Emu eggs are easily identifiable due to their rather large size, about the size of a grapefruit, and greenish-black color. The eggs are not a uniform shade and can range from a light shade of green to almost black. The color of the eggs depends on the hen.

After pecking its way out of the shell, a very active 10-inch tall, cream-colored emu chick emerges. They have brown stripes and dark dots on the head. The chicks go through a remarkable color-metamorphosis. As three-month-old chicks they turn an almost solid black color, and then change to a tan, brown and black mixture as they grow.

The chick will leave the nest two to three days after hatching. The chicks will be guarded by the male for up to 18 months and he is the one who will teach them what and how to eat. If a male comes across a strange chick wandering, he will most likely adopt it providing it isn't bigger than the chicks already in his care.

Interesting Fact: Ratites are the only birds known to hatch identical twins. Two birds actually hatch from the same egg! This is not normal for birds and in the wild the hatchlings would rarely live more than a day or two. In captivity scientists have been able to watch emu identical twins live beyond 18 months.

The emu was a thriving species before the arrival of Europeans in the early 19th century. They were often killed for their meat and medicinal uses by settlers and sealers. There are a few specimens left of the extinct birds, primarily in France.

The population in Australia is normally about half a million, though it has been recorded that there have been as few as 200,000 and as many as one million. There are many, many more throughout the rest of the world.

The Tasmanian emu (D. novaehollandiae diemenensis) is believed to be a subspecies of the mainland emu. They lived in upland grasslands and open grassy woodlands near the northern and eastern coast. The last two specimens were received by the British Museum in 1838. There is also a specimen at the Frankfurt Museum in Germany.

The Tasmanian emu is believed to have been slightly smaller that the mainland species. It wasn't very common and was hunted down when food was scarce. It is very rare to find Tasmanian emu in museums as the few that were collected were sent to overseas institutions. Local museums have very few.

It is believed that these emus became extinct because they were out-competed or hybridized with emus from the mainland; declined after deforestation; or were hunted for museum and zoo collections. The last Tasmanian emu were locally extinct around the 1830s and the last were seen in the wild around 1865. It is believed that a few survived in captivity until 1873.

The Kangaroo Island emu (D. baudinianus) became extinct around 1827. They lived on Kangaroo Island, off of South Australia. __ Peron () who visited the island in 1802-03 with Captain Nicholas Baudin of France, wrote that the species inhabited "the innermost recesses of the woods" but would visit the shoreline in the afternoon.

In 1837, Leigh reported that the birds, which were also known as Black emu or Dwarf emu, had not been seen for 10 years. The species had been systematically hunted to extinction by settlers, although changes in their habitat by fire may have also contributed to their end.

It was believed that all the birds colleted on Kangaroo Island were from King Island, but S. A. Parker showed that this was not the case with the Kangaroo Island emu and assigned its classification. There are specimens in France at the Natural History Museum of Paris; Florence, Italy; and Adelaide, Australia. The last three living Kangaroo Island emu were exhibited in Paris at the Jardin des Plantes in 1803 with two of them surviving until 1822.

The King Island emu (D. ater) was about half the size of the Tasmanian emu and lived on King Island in the Bass Strait. They preferred the shady areas of lagoons and the shorelines.

Numerous skeletal remains have been found, but only one skin exists. It was collected by Baudin in 1802 and is in Paris. It is believed that extinction soon followed as a result of sealers and visiting sailors had hunting them for food.

There are emus on King Island today but it is believed that they are from eight birds that were introduced to the island in the 1920s.