The influence of species and muscle on the intramuscular fat content, cholesterol content and fatty acid composition of Greater and Lesser Rhea meat were evaluated. Muscle has no influence (P>0.05) on any of these characteristics. Neither intramuscular fat (1.23%) nor cholesterol content (57 mg/100 g) differed (P>0.05) between species. Despite differences (P<0.05) in the percentage of individual fatty acids, total saturated fatty acids (33.1%) did not differ (P>0.05) between species, while total monounsaturated fatty acids (26.8 vs 32.2%) was lower (P<0.05) and total polyunsaturated fatty acids (39.7 vs 33.6%) higher (P<0.05) for Greater than Lesser Rhea.