An incredible moment of apparent intimacy has been captured by a group of Aussie joggers, with one woman’s interaction with a “special friend” highlighting the unique nature of a lone male emu who resides along a popular running trail.
The woman, named Sarah, could be seen almost submitting to the emu during a recent run in the Parklands Conservation Park near Nambour on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
As she approached, stepping right into the emu’s space, she crouched down in front of the large native bird. The emu, known as Fluffy to locals, responded in kind, lowering itself and almost dancing as it moved in closer to her.
“Fluffy has a particular connection with Sarah,” Carmen Atkinson, the leader of the local Her Trails run group that shared the moment, told Yahoo News. “He’s always friendly to everybody, but like other animals I think they have their favourites.”
She said the group frequently sees the emu during their runs, particularly in winter, with Sarah often having a moment with the bird.
“She’s unafraid or unintimidated, but very respectful. So she’s willing to enter his space, but let him dictate the movement, I suppose,” Carmen said.
“Many of us pat him and wrap our arms around him, and he leans in like a dog … He’s extraordinary. It’s an absolute privilege to be honest.”
The Her Trails group was initially started during the lockdowns of the Covid pandemic to help women in Melbourne connect and keep active, and has since spread to other parts of the country. The Sunshine Coast chapter is often joined by the notorious emu on their runs.
“Every now and then he’ll just drop back, and you’re like, ‘Oh, he’s done’. And you look and he’s miles back and then within a matter of seconds, he’s right up in amongst the group again, he just silently reappears. It’s amazing,” Carmen said.
Expert shares ‘possible explanation’ for viral emu moment in video
These days there are very few emus in this particular area of the state, according to Sean Dooley from BirdLife Australia.
“There are no longer any natural populations of emus in the Sunshine Coast area,” he told Yahoo News. “I believe that local birdwatchers have known of at least one, possibly two birds that were released into the area by a local landholder.”
Because of this unusual situation, it’s unlikely Fluffy has encountered other emus, and the bird has clearly become “quite habituated to people”, he said.
“I think I have a possible explanation for the odd behaviour of the emu in the video,” Sean told Yahoo.
Correctly identifying it as a male, he hypothesised that the large bird perhaps had one thing on its mind at the time.
“The kneeling on the ground and gentle nudging suggest that this is part of a courtship display,” he said.
Fortunately for Sarah, it is the female emus that are larger and more aggressive during courtship displays, while males tend to be more submissive.
“I suspect that this bird is thinking that the female jogger is a potential mate and is trying to woo her,” Sean explained.
“I think the case of mistaken identity may be enhanced due to the blue visor the woman is wearing. Both male and female emus have blue patches of skin on the side of their face and neck, that get more vivid during breeding season.”
Fluffy has long been known to locals, evening becoming somewhat of a tourist attraction as people get their selfies with the obliging bird. However, at least one local has caused a stir this month by petitioning for the emu to be removed from the parkland and relocated elsewhere on the grounds, saying that it is dangerous and sometimes aggressive. A counter petition opposing the removal of Fluffy quickly sprung up and has since garnered more than 65 times the number of signatures.
Fluffy has long been a beloved member of the Nambour running community, happy to pose for selfies and keeping runners company. Source: Nambour Parkrun/Facebook
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