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Photo © Simon Heather

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Emus of the Salt Lake

Emus of the Salt Lake
by Gary Steer


Emus running in shallow water on Lake Gairdner, a salt lake in central Australia. The birds were foraging though they were many km from the shore of a 7000 sq km lake. There were no plants and the water too saline to drink. The normal diet of emus is seeds and fruit, but also insects. Strong winds had blown many insects over the lake and, exhausted, they fell into the water. This is probably what the emus were feeding on.