Kenya

Ostriches don’t bury their heads in sand. They swallow it.

In many languages, someone who refuses to face reality is said to bury their head in the sand, like an ostrich. The image lives on in everything from sayings to cartoons.

But ostriches don’t bury their heads in sand, not in Kenya and not anywhere else. They dig hollows in sand as nests and lower their heads into them to turn the eggs. From a distance, it looks as if the head is buried.

Ostriches have no teeth. They swallow sand and small stones, which grind their food in the stomach.