The set of animal health conditions under which ratites have been imported into New Zealand from Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom includes the provision that tracheal/ choanal and conjunctival swabs should be examined for the presence of mycoplasmas by culture, and that imported birds should be negative prior to export, and in post-arrival quarantine. Mycoplasma isolates of various species have been recovered from a number of groups of imported ostriches, both in pre-export isolation and in post-arrival quarantine.