'What the?' Emu's run through cornfield baffles America

The sight of an emu going full-belt through a paddock isn't something to raise an eyebrow at in Australia, but it seems our American friends were hard-put to make sense of it.

A photo has emerged in the US of our national bird making its way through an Illinois corn paddock in the US.

CNN recently took the undated photo around to locals, who were hard-put to even identify the "emoo" – in the US patois.

"What the? That's huge? That's an ostrich?" said one.

"That's crazy, that's what it is. I never seen one of those here."

Another local could only sum up his reaction with "good grief".

"I don't think I've ever seen anything like that in a cornfield," he said.

Emus have been farmed in the US since the 1980s.

The big birds are prized as unique pets as well as for their meat, oil, leather and feathers.