![]() ![]() Females lay an average of two eggs at the end of the rainy season.Īs co-parents, both birds tend to the eggs and young. Breeding pairs build nests on water or on floating vegetation, and can be up to eight feet wide. These birds are very solitary in nature, though, and even mating pairs will feed at opposite sides of their territory. Shoebills reach maturity at three to four years old, and breeding pairs are monogamous. Chicks sometimes make hiccup-like sounds when they’re hungry. They keep cool with a technique called gular fluttering-vibrating the throat muscles to dissipate heat. Though they’re mainly silent, shoebills sometimes engage in bill-clattering, a sound made as a greeting and during nesting. They do share traits with storks and herons, like the long necks and legs characteristic of wading birds, though their closest relatives are the pelicans. Shoebills are in a family all their own, though they were once classified as storks. The birds practice a hunting technique called “collapsing,” which involves lunging or falling forward on their prey. Shoebills can stay motionless for hours, so when a hapless lungfish comes up for air, it might not notice this lethal prehistoric-looking bird looming until it’s too late. They also have long, thin legs with large feet that are ideal for walking on the vegetation in the freshwater marshes and swamps they inhabit in East Africa, from Ethiopia and South Sudan to Zambia. Reaching up to five feet tall with an eight-foot wingspan, shoebills have yellow eyes, gray feathers, white bellies, and a small feathered crest on the back of their heads. It even snacks on baby crocodiles and Nile monitor lizards.Īt first glance, shoebills don’t seem like they could be ambush predators. Its specialized bill allows the shoebill to grab large prey, including lungfish, tilapia, eels, and snakes. Tan with brown splotches, it's five inches wide and has sharp edges and a sharp hook on the end. What makes the aptly named shoebill so unique is its foot-long bill that resembles a Dutch clog. The best known fossil is archaeopteryx, which was about the size of a crow.Current Population Trend: Decreasing What is a shoebill?ĭepending on your perspective, a shoebill either has the same goofy charm as the long-lost dodo or it looks like it might go on the attack any moment. The fossil record shows that birds evolved alongside the dinosaurs during the Jurassic period 160 million years ago. Instead of carrying the extra weight of developing young inside their bodies, they lay eggs and incubate them in a nest. Even the way a bird reproduces is related to flight. They use their beaks to grab and swallow food. The tail feathers are used for steering.īirds have a unique digestive system that allows them to eat when they can-usually on the fly-and digest later. The powerful flight muscles of the shoulder attach to the keel, a special ridge of bone that runs down the center of the wide sternum, or breastbone. It also connects to the bird’s air sac system, which, in turn, connects to its lungs. The main bone, the humerus, which is similar to the upper arm of a mammal, is hollow instead of solid. The bones and muscles of the wing are also highly specialized. Airplane wings are modeled after bird wings. The leading edge is thicker than the back edge, and they are covered in feathers that narrow to a point. The wings, for example, are shaped to create lift. The smallest is the two-inch-long bee hummingbird.Įverything about the anatomy of a bird reflects its ability to fly. The largest is the nine-foot-tall ostrich. Birds are found worldwide and in all habitats. Some, like penguins, have lost the ability to fly but retained their wings. Birds are vertebrate animals adapted for flight. ![]()
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