Abstract: In order to explore whether the diarrhea of African ostrich was related to E.coli, the feces of 9 African ostrich. The purified bacteria were isolated and identified by Gram staining, morphological identification and biochemical identification. The results showedthatthe growth of strain 2~9 in McConkey medium was red and wet round colony, while strain 1 in McConkey medium was white and transparent and wet round colony; Gram staining was negative, and microscopic examination showed that all of them were red bacilli; Biochemical identification showed that 9 strains could ferment glucose, mannitol, arabinose and maltose, most of them could decompose sorbitol, lactose, rhamnose, sucrose and raffinose, one strain could not ferment lactose and was white and transparent colony in McConkey medium, all strains could not utilize hydrogen sulfide, citrate, VP test of all strains urea reaction was negative, and all strains were positive in MR test and indole test. Finally, 9 strains were identified as Escherichia coli.

Key words: African ostrich（Struthio camelus）, E. coli, morphological, biochemical identification