I agree with you re: the apparent obviousness of the relationship, especially when it comes to these giant sort of birds - emus, ostriches. I mean they look like dinosaurs, plain and simple - like terrifying, feathered, idiot raptors.

Funny thing about this story is that it is roughly based on a real life event, or struggle, of sorts, The Australian Emu War

No joke! There was an emu war in Australia involving the military and citizens fighting hordes of emus with weapons in order to break the tide of emu forces on the continent. Fucking emus!