Birds Defeated Australians During The Great Emu War
After World War I, many unemployed veterans were sold land from the Australian government and asked to begin farming wheat. There was just one problem. In 1932, emus began eating all of the crops in Western Australia. Now that roughly 20,000 emus were destroying the crops, these veterans called in Royal Australian Artillery soldiers to get rid of them. There was just one problem. No matter how much they were shot at with machine guns, it was nearly impossible to take down the hoards of emus. The emu feathers were so thick, it was essentially like wearing suits of armor that deflected bullets. This event was nicknamed The Emu War. Since the army failed, they decided to give financial incentive to farmers to kill them, which eventually helped to lessen the population. If you’re interested to know more, I highly recommend the Puppet History episode on this story.