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The shoebill, also Abu Markub, is an African bird that used to be assigned to the walking birds, today it is assigned to the Pelecaniformes. The bird, named after its mighty beak, is a resident of swamps. Since its morphology is unique, it is assigned to a family of its own, the Balaenicipitidae. Wikipedia
September 27, 2021
"Abu Markub" is the name of the long-legged shoebill in Arabic because of its huge, shoe-shaped beak.The shoebill has adapted to its favorite food, the lungfish, when catching prey. Lungfish are long-lived animals that have adapted to living in oxygen-poor waters in their habitat. Nevertheless, they have to come to the surface of the water regularly, about every 20 minutes, to breathe. This behavior is used by the shoebill, which likes to eat lungfish!When hunting prey, a shoebill stands still until it sights a fish. Then, with its relatively heavy head, it lunges forward at lightning speed to grab the prey! The upper beak of this bird is extremely sharp-edged and ends in a hooked point. This allows him to hold onto his slippery prey without any problems. The prey is then dragged out of the swamp with backward flapping wings. If the hunt is not successful, the shoebill will look for a new position and stay still until another fish dares to surface!
Source: weltvogelpark.de/plane-deinen-besuch/unsere-voegel/schuhschnabel
August 1, 2023
When it rains heavily, the "shoe beaks" open their wide beaks and catch the rainwater.
August 23, 2022
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