Saratoga News Photograph by George Sakkestad Ron Landrum and his emu friend, Aussie, enjoy visiting schools, senior centers and other facilities. Emu raiser has penchant for big birds Saratogan visits schools, senior centers By Shari Kaplan Ron Landrum's wife, Betty, thinks her husband should enter a contest for pet owners who resemble their pets. Not only would Landrum and Aussie be unique among the competitors, but their likeness is quite amusing: both are tall and lanky, are friendly, inquisitive and quiet, and possess big, expressive eyes and a thatch of salt-and-pepper hair--or feathers, as the case may be. Aussie is an emu, the world's second largest flightless bird and a member of the ratite family, which includes the ostrich, rhea, cassowary and kiwi. He is also the largest member of the Landrum menagerie, which includes dogs, cats, Mandarin ducks, Rosella parrots, pheasants and fish in aquariums. Fifteen-year-old Aussie is also a member of a love-hate relationship with Matilda, another emu. Although she does not share Aussie's affection for humans, Matilda has no reservations about showing her interest in Aussie when the season moves her. When not chasing him for love, though, she'd just as soon chase him away from her food and water. In emus, the female is usually dominant, although the responsibility for incubating eggs and raising chicks belongs to the male. A Saratoga resident, Landrum says animals and ecology have always interested him. Following a degree in fisheries and zoology from Humboldt State University, he worked for the Stanford Research Institute and the Environmental Protection Agency. He later drifted to his "second love"--physical fitness--working for Track and Field and Runners World. Currently, he operates an aquarium servicing business. The interest in emus came in the early 1980s after his first trip to Australia. Landrum found them fascinating birds, and happily, a friend in Southern California had chicks to sell. Landrum does not raise emus for any of their in-vogue commercial uses: low-fat meat; pharmaceutical oil; versatile leather; decorative feathers and eggs. Instead, he brings Aussie to schools, medical facilities, senior centers and other Bay Area venues, including the Los Gatos Rehabilitation Center, the Odd Fellows Home in Saratoga and schools in both communities. Together with his feathered friend, Landrum discusses birds in the ratite family and talks about wildlife and environmental issues, shows slides of his worldwide travels and answers questions. One of the funniest incidents occurred at Santa Clara University. "About halfway through my lecture, the ring on a slide screen caught Aussie's eye and he just couldn't resist--it was a real stretch, but he reached up and pulled the screen down with his beak. The students cracked up!" Landrum recalls. "Aussie is fascinated by anything; emus are very curious birds. But they don't really have much capacity for learning things. Most of their behavior is very instinctive," he adds. Sometimes simple things can have significant impact, however, as Landrum discovered at a senior facility. Although he sensed many people weren't absorbing much of his presentation, things eventually changed. "As soon as that hand hit his feathers, there was movement," Landrum says of one senior with a particularly difficult time moving and communicating. "It shows on their faces too--they smile and their eyes get big, just from meeting a bird." [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, February 3, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.