Throughout history, animals have been involved in human life in various ways. People have attributed a special role to birds of prey or exotic birds, including ostriches, whose involvement in entertainment and sports began in the first half of the nineteenth century. This article discusses the origins, development and reception of the ostrich entertainment industry in two areas of nineteenth-century Europe that had significantly different social, political and economic circumstances: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (as it was then known) and partitioned Poland (the example of the Grand Duchy of Posen). The first uses of ostriches for entertainment purposes in Europe consisted of bird exhibitions in travelling menageries, hippodromes and in circus shows. Among the pioneers of this kind of entertainment in the British Isles was William Batty, and in the culturally excluded territories of partitioned Poland it was Ernst Renz, whose Olympic circus, thanks to its diverse programme of shows and performances, provided important entertainment and educational opportunities for Poles under occupation.

纵观历史，动物以各种方式参与人类生活。人们认为猛禽或外来鸟类具有特殊作用，包括鸵鸟，它们在 19 世纪上半叶开始参与娱乐和体育活动。本文讨论了 19 世纪欧洲社会、政治和经济环境截然不同的两个地区的鸵鸟娱乐业的起源、发展和接受情况：大不列颠及爱尔兰联合王国（当时为人所知）和瓜分地区波兰（波森大公国的例子）。欧洲首次将鸵鸟用于娱乐目的包括在巡回动物园、跑马场和马戏表演中进行鸟类展览。