TRAVEL DARLING RIVER RUN - AAP 1 of 1 The emu - an iconic Australian bird, but also something of an enigma. "They're so widespread, but we really don't know much about them," says Western Sydney University PhD student Julia Ryeland. "How do you know how they're going to be affected by anthropogenic change when we don't even know basic things like lifespan?" Ms Ryeland and other researchers at Western Sydney University and the University of Tasmania are the authors of a new study that sheds light on the mysterious bird. The scientists investigated where emus are likely to live in Australia, as well as tracking where they have spent the past 6000 years and what will happen in the next 50 years.