Status Updates From Why Do Birds Sing?

I've known emus are as dumb as chickens, since that time I was walking the dingoes, and the emu ran towards us, not to scare us away but because Mr Emu was scared and meant to run away from us. (Don't worry, our dingoes were leashed.)

It's because emus are ratites and split off from the Neoaves clade: all modern birds except Palaeognathae (ratites) and Galloanserae (chickens, turkeys, other brainless birds)