Abstract

A baseline of rhea behaviour in captivity was established by evaluating the diurnal time-activity budget of adult rheas during the breeding season in the Northern hemisphere (April to July) in a fanning environment with group size and sex as variables. While group size has little effect on behaviour, most activities showed significant differences between sexes. Most time was spent on pacing and standing combined by both males (49.2%) and females (39.8%). Female rheas spent significantly more time on nutrition (33.7%) than males (18.3%). No specific patterns were observed in any of the behaviours evaluated over time. Foraging during all time periods was higher for females than for males. Reproductive behaviour of males was the highest between 1200-1400 h, while egg-laying occurred during the time period 1400-1600 h.