History Main / OstrichHeadHiding

SubTrope of ArtisticLicenseOrnithology. See also HeadInTheSandManagement.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheDickTracyShow'': This is how Go-Go Gomez exposes the Brow and Oodles' plan to win a horse race by using an ostrich disguised as a horse. He frightens the ostrich which screeches to a stop (and sends Oodles flying off of it) and buries its head in the ground.

* ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'': In "Donald's Pumbaa Prank", [[Disney/{{Fantasia}} an ostrich ballerina]] hides her head in a cake when [[Disney/TheLionKing Pumbaa]] is about to make a gigantic fart.

* No ostriches feature in ''VideoGame/AvianAttorney'', but the Prime Minister of France describes the King as ostrichlike in his determination to ignore bad things.

* Creator/TexAvery's ''WesternAnimation/SlapHappyLion'' has a lion roaring so loud that it scares off an ostrich, who sticks his head in the sand, then lifts the piece of ground head and all and runs off with it.

[[quoteright:350:[[Disney/{{Dumbo}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ostrich_6615.jpg]]]]

* ''Disney/{{Dumbo}}''. During the ''Baby Be Mine'' segment the camera shows a shot of the circus animals taking a rest at night, including a mother (or [[AnimalGenderBender father?]]) ostrich and her two baby birds, sticking their heads underneath the sand.

Nevertheless this UrbanLegend keeps popping up in comic strips and cartoons and has even become a metaphor for people too frightened to do something about an important problem. Instead of taking action they prefer sticking their heads under the ground and wait until the problem goes away by itself.

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* ''Film/Bumblebee2018''. Bumblebee does this on the beach, thinking it would hide him if other peoeple are around. Yes, he honestly forgot to ''[[ForgotAboutHisPowers transform into vehicle mode]]''.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/PenguinsOfMadagascar'' had an ostrich that gets her head stuck in quick-drying cement, alluding the "ostrich with its head in the ground" pose. This gets lampshaded by the characters, who point out how cliched this trope is.
* Deconstructed in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard''. In "Bunga The Wise," Bunga tells an ostrich who's scared of hyenas to hide her head in the ground to avoid seeing them. When the rest of the Lion Guard see her doing this, they point out that ostriches don't actually do such a thing. After they help the ostrich to pull her stuck head out, she complains about [[RealityEnsues how hard it is to breathe down there]].

* A series of 1990s Russian adverts for Irn Bru (no, honestly, [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff it's a whole thing, apparently]]) featured blue and orange ostriches, who bury their heads in the sand, only for their heads to come out in Antarctica and steal cool Irn Bru from penguins. In another one, the ostriches are themselves in Antarctica and have buried their Irn Bru to keep it cool, so they duck into the snow to drink it.

* Spike does this in ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' when Littlefoot and Cera are fighting.

* A series of 1990s Russian adverts for Irn Bru (no, honestly, it's a whole thing apparently) featured blue and orange ostriches, who bury their heads in the sand, only for their heads to come out in Antarctica and steal cool Irn Bru from penguins. In another one, the ostriches are themselves in Antarctica and have buried their Irn Bru to keep it cool, so they duck into the snow to drink it.

* Spike does this in ''{{The Land Before Time}}'' when Littlefoot and Cera are fighting.

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* ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks''. During the soccer match the ostrich buries its head underneath the sand, but is kicked against his behind soon afterwards, causing him to tumble forwards and fall on its behind.

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->Peek-a-Boo, I can't see you, \\

I just bury me head.

-->''The Ostrich'', by '''Music/FlandersAndSwann'''

* A 1990s Russian advert for Irn Bru (no, honestly, it's a whole thing) featured blue and orange ostriches with their heads buried in snow ... because they'd put their Irn Bru bottles there to chill.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': In Episode 70, this is done by Quack Quack the duck (even though he's not an ostricj). Somehow, it works perfectly well and nobody can find him.