Emu Oil
Emu oil is derived from the Emu bird
Dromaius novaehollandiae, a species native to the
Australian continent. The subspecies of Emu that used to live on
the island of Tasmania was eradicated by European settlers during
the 18th century.
Emu oil is extracted from commercially farmed Emu birds. Emu
farming is a relatively new occurrence, but Emu farmers and Emu oil
producers can today be found in many different parts of the world,
not only in Australia.
In Australia, Emu farming has occurred since
1987 and the first slaughtering of a commercially farmed Emu took
place in 1990. The first commercial Emu farm was located in Western
Australia. Today, all Australian states (with the exception of
Tasmania) protect their wild Emu populations by license
requirements and the commercial extraction of Emu oil is based
exclusively on captive bred specimens.
Outside Australia, a majority of the worlds Emu
farmers and Emu oil producers are located in North America, China
and Peru. In the United States, you can find over 1 million Emu
specimens in captivity. Getting Emu birds to breed in captivity is
not very difficult, but it should not be kept in small cages where
it is forced to be inactive since this will cause severe digestive
problems for the bird. Emus should instead be kept in large open
pens where they can graze. Most farmers also feed their Emu birds
grain.
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