If you have seen the movie or are watching the current season of Big Brother, you know all about mean girls. Emu sisters Chica and Loca are having a bit of a mean girl issue at the moment. Chica has been displaying adult female behavior for many months while sister Loca hung out with the boys. Recently Loca has begun displaying big girl behavior so now they have a problem. Chica has not been integrated with the others for many months. Now, if she comes close to the food or the boys, Loca chases her away and starts a fight. This is not completely a bad thing. Female emus will fight over the attention of the males before and during mating season which begins in November for west coast emus. It can last through March.
I am hoping with both girls reaching sexual maturity, that we will have mating and fertile eggs this year. I am very excited to see the girls lay eggs and the boys sit on them, hatch them, and raise the babies. Until that time I suppose they will be mean girls. The drumming sound you hear in the video is the adult female sound. The males grunt like pigs. Go figure.