Australia once declared war on emus—and ended up losing. Yes, you read that right. The Great Emu War of 1932 is a tale so wild it almost sounds like something out of a comedy, but it’s all true.
It all started when a bunch of hungry emus decided to make themselves at home on Australian farms. These giant flightless birds were having a feast, destroying crops and messing up harvests in the process. Australian farmers were desperate, and so they turned to the government for help. What did the government do? Well, they sent in the army, armed with guns.
The plan seemed simple: the soldiers would just shoot down the emus and save the crops. But the birds were not about to go down that easily. Emus, it turns out, are speed demons. They can run up to 31 miles per hour, and they have some serious evasive skills, zigzagging their way through the bullets. It didn’t take long for the soldiers to realize they were up against an enemy that wasn’t going to just sit still and take it.
Over 2,500 rounds of ammunition were fired during this operation. And do you know how many emus were taken down? Just a handful. It was like the birds had a secret strategy of their own. Farmers and soldiers found themselves outsmarted by birds with gangly legs and long necks. One soldier even said the emus seemed to have "military tactics of their own."
After the first failed attempt, they tried again. But the emus kept outmaneuvering them, and the second operation was just as disastrous. By December, after weeks of trying to defeat the birds, the government finally threw in the towel. The soldiers left, the emus were still running wild, and the farmers were left to pick up the pieces of their ruined crops.
Now, the Emu War is now mostly remembered for being hilarious and a little embarrassing.
