Yes, it’s a solitary loner that picks off its prey one at a time. Yes, it has an enormous, shoe-shaped beak that can kill a baby croc or wrangle a lungfish. And yes, its stare is somewhat intense – think Paddington Bear meets Vinnie Jones.
It also doesn’t help that the bird is physically intimidating. This freshwater swamp specialistfrom eastern Africastands over a metre tall, has a wingspan of up to 75cm, and its sharp, clog-shaped bill grows up to 24cm long.
It’s also slow, purposeful and utterly relentless. Shoebills are stealth predators. They can stand motionless for hours, before attacking, shaking, crushing and then swallowing their prey, and yet, this relative of the pelican is so much more than some villainous caricature.
For one thing, it poos on its own legs. Not so scary now, eh? Known as urohidrosis, it’s a messy but deliberate habit that helps the bird to stay cool.
The shoebill is similarly nonconformist in the air, where it has one of the slowest flapping rates of any bird. It takes just 150 beats per minute to keep this impressive animal aloft.
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Asked by: Adam Jarrett, Ipswich
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