[Ostriches--an agricultural domestic animal?]

Since more than 100 years ostriches have been used as farm animals in South Africa. At present there are ca. 200 000 ostriches in 350 farms. Well known have been ostrich feathers which had formerly been equally previous (around 1900) as gold. Today, however, ostrich meat and leather are much appreciated. Since more than 10 years experiments with ostriches have been also carried out in other countries of the world, mainly in hot areas e. G. Australia, USA, Israel and Italy. Maybe the African ostrich will soon also belong to the daily life of animals bred and marketed in Germany. Since 1993 ca. 30 ostrich farms (with about 500 animals) have been known in Germany and a further 100 ostrich breeders in neighbouring countries. An additional many interested persons are looking forward to earn money through sales of eggs, chicks and breeding pairs. However, not everybody is farmer, some are rather well-to-do part-time or hobby-farmers who are speculating with these exotic wild birds. Anyway, at present business with breeding stock is booming. South Africa has prohibited the export and there are only few offers over here. A mature breeding ostrich at the age of 2-3 years costs about 10 000 DM. Since the animals use to live in small family units (one cock, two hens) the start of the breeding business begins at ca. 30 000 DM.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)