鸵鸟目（Struthioniformes）在动物分类学上是鸟纲古颚总目下中的一个目，包括很多巨大不能飞的鸟，如鸵鸟。这一目只包括一科一属，即鸵鸟属，原来鹤鸵、鸸鹋等动物亦属于这一目，但现在已经独立为鹤鸵目，使鸵鸟目只余下各种鸵鸟。现在于Charles C. Sibley利用DNA分析所作之新分类法，鸵鸟目变成鸵鸟下目，和美洲鸵鸟下目(美洲鸵鸟目)合组鸵鸟亚目，鸵鸟亚目再和鹤鸵亚目合组鸵形目。

鸵鸟目共有五种，其中阿拉伯鸵鸟已于1941年灭绝。鸵鸟是现代生存的最大的鸟类，人类已经开始驯化它们，以获取羽毛和肉、卵。

A ratite is any of a diverse group of large, flightless birds of the infraclass Palaeognathae. The systematics involved have been in flux. Some sources state that ratites include all the flightless birds of the Palaeognathae; previously, all these birds had been assigned to the order Struthioniformes, which is more recently regarded as containing only the ostrich. The modern bird superorder Palaeognathae consists of ratites and flighted Neotropic tinamous (compare to Neognathae). Unlike other flightless birds, the ratites have no keel on their sternum – hence the name from the Latin ratis (for raft). Without this to anchor their wing muscles, they could not fly even if they were to develop suitable wings. Recent research has indicated that ratites are a paraphyletic group; tinamous fall within them, and are the sister group of the extinct moa. This implies that flightlessness is a trait that evolved independently multiple times in different ratite lineages.