Hilarious vid lol.

I did some checking: Emus can run about 30-31 Mph.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu

Black Bears do about 25-30 mph
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Bear

Emu would edge it out in speed, but bears are ambush predators; it might, just might be able to catch it. However Emus are indeed formidable, and I’m thinking now that an Emu would look so strange to a Blackbear that the latter might give it a wide berth, or even run from it.

A pack of feral dogs, however, could give it trouble (average dog should run faster than a bear) in terms of speed and numbers. However, I doubt a single dog could really threaten an Emu, considering those nasty kicks and a third weapon: a big thumping beak. I saw a video once of a tiger and a dog playing with an emu: both tried to get close, but the Emu’s kicks kept them away (the kicks never landed: the fear of those claws were more tan enough to make the predators think twice)

However, we haven’t brought up the eastern Cougar: if it exists, it could prove a danger to an emu: when a pure predator sees something new, they think two things: what is it, and can I eat it. Though a face to face encounter would most likely end in an Emu triumph, one pounce from behind could end it quick. Its all a question of whether the Cougar would be messed up in its strike by so odd and unusual prey, something it never encounters in America’s wild.

I saw my first emu quite unexpectedly while running a train in Mississippi. There, in a cut-over cornfield, stood a bird taller than myself!

Found out later that there had been a fad in the area for raising emus, apparently to sell their meat and feathers. The expected demand did not turn out, and the birds either escaped, or, in some cases, were purposely released into the wild. They became feral.

One of my friends owns a couple of farms in Mississippi. On one of the farms, a pair of emus decided to set up housekeeping.

They are a large animal with a very small brain. A legacy of their dinosaur ancestors.

As stupid as they may be, they have a very well-developed “fight or flight” response. They are very good at both. Not only can they outrun most predators, they come equipped with a large claw on each leg that is capable of killing a person if the emu is cornered. They will aggressively defend themselves, each other, their nests, and their young.

I would no more trust children around these things than I would around bison.

They might make challenging game animals, on the order of wild boar.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it is caught and killed by a predator, such as Black Bear”

I wouldn’t be surprised if it caught the black bear.

See:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZLx4Os8TBs

Though my personal experience with emus on ‘home turf’ has been limited, I would say from what I’ve heard that the above is definitely an understatement . . .

Walk-about. Good one LOL

I wouldn’t be surprised if it is caught and killed by a predator, such as Black Bear, or perhaps, if it exists, Champ…?

Come to think of it, when viewed from a distance in the water (Emu’s swim?), it might look a little like a Nessie-Plesiosaur-like monster. Interesting.