WHEN an ostrich decides that she fancies you, it is definitely not the time to bury your head in the sand.

The correct response to a lovelorn ostrich is to stay firmly on the other side of a fence. But this does not solve the real problem for Britain’s bird farms, who have found that ostriches become so attracted to humans that they fail to mate with their own kind.

Fixation with their owners has been identified as one of the main reasons why much ostrich farming in Britain was a commercial failure. Charles Paxton, a statistician at the University of St Andrews, said yesterday: “Ostriches indulged in courtship but it was directed primarily at human beings.”

Ostriches have a spectacular mating display, dropping to their knees, spreading their wings, swinging their necks and groaning. Their sharp claws and powerful legs, which can disembowel a man with one kick, make humans very glad that they are fenced off.

Dr Paxton’s colleague, Charles Deeming, said: “We found the females would often drop to their knees in mating position when humans were at the pen fence. Some male birds would try to take advantage of that, but their efforts were often clumsy and inept.”

Dr Paxton added: “The more the ostriches were interested in humans, the more hopeless they were at sex with other ostriches. Some males tried to mount females the wrong way round, and could have broken their legs.” An 8ft male can weigh 350 lbs.

Lectures by Dr Paxton and Dr Deeming are part of the IgNobel National Science Week Tour 2003, organised by the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1997 there were more than 400 ostrich farms in the UK but fertility was low and many investors lost their money. A handful of farms survive.

Captive emus also become attracted to humans. Pat Sauer of the American Emu Association said: “There can be problems when an emu falls in love with you. I do not think it is as common as with ostriches.”

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