Linda, a four-year-old ostrich, came to the zoo in November.

Gil Myers / Courtesy of Smithsonian's National Zoo

As the National Zoo mourns of the loss of one long-necked lady (R.I.P. Betty the flamingo), keepers are welcoming a new towering bird into the family.

Meet Linda the ostrich.

According to Jen Zoon, a communications specialist for the National Zoo, four-year-old Linda arrived at the zoo in November 2021 from Hemker Wildlife Park in Merkel, Texas. While Linda is still adjusting to her new digs, keeper Tallie Wiles writes that some parts of her personality are already apparent; she’s social, observant, curious, and apparently, a bit of a wildcard.

“She keeps us on our toes,” Wiles writes in a National Zoo press release. “Just when we think we know what she’s going to do, she changes her routine and does something a little unexpected!”

The zoo kept ostriches when the facility first opened more than a century ago, but Zoon says it’s been “a good long while,” since they’ve had any on exhibit. Linda will join a cast of bird characters currently kept at the zoo’s Cheetah Conservation Station, including Abyssinian ground hornbills Karl and Karoline and Ruppell’s griffon vultures, Tuck and Natalie. (A close cousin to the ostrich, Darwin the elderly emu, died at the zoo in 2018.)

Despite the name of her exhibit, Linda will have her own habitat separate from her shorter  — but speedier — cheetah neighbors. Although her wings are largely for aesthetic value (like all ostriches, she’s too heavy to fly), Linda’s legs can go at a speed of up to 43 miles per hour — the fastest of any bird species. Ostrich feet are also unique: While all other flightless birds have three toes, Linda balances her eight-foot-tall, 200-plus-pound body on two.

Zoon says keepers are granting Linda access to her outdoor yard this week (weather permitting), but she may take some time to adjust to the new surrounding before she’s put on display for visitors. Updates on access to Linda will be posted on the Zoo’s social media pages. Due to COVID-related staffing constraints, the National Zoo is currently operating on a limited schedule. The zoo is only open Thursday through Sunday, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and closed on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.

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