ostriches are such enormous and strange birds. It's no surprise they've gotten a lot of attention

from humans throughout history. However, they probably would have preferred that we ignored them.

Because humans being humans, much of the attention we've given ostriches has been focused on

how to hunt them, eat them, monetize them, and

humiliate them. People in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia have hunted these giant, flightless

birds since the Stone Age, for not only their meat, but also their feathers, skin, and eggs.

Ostridge was an exotic delicacy in ancient Rome.

Those crazy Romans ate dishes like ostrich stew, boiled ostrich, and even ostrich brains.

But the Romans being Romans, they couldn't just eat ostriches.

They also brought these birds into the Colosseum where they were subjected to the

cruel Venetio games. This is where wild animals like elephants, lions, crocodiles, and ostriches

were pitted against gladiators for sport to entertain the cheering crowd. Such events rarely ended well for the animals.

Eventually, some genius got the idea that it would be fun to clamber onto the back of an

ostrich and attempt to ride the poor thing.

When I was a kid in the early 80s, there was a popular arcade game called Joust.

Your character in the game is an armored knight who happens to be riding an ostrich.

I loved Joust. As a kid, I thought it would be super cool to ride around on the back of a

trusty ostrich steed, charging at bad guys with a spear. I know most video games are pretty grounded in

reality, but joust? I mean, come on, an armored knight weighs over 250 pounds or 115 kilograms.

There's no way an ostrich could carry all that. Also, the bird in the arcade game could fly. You frantically

hit the flap button and your ostrich takes to the air. What's wrong with this picture?

Even though ostriches aren't built for carrying heavy loads on their backs, that hasn't stopped

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