![]() ![]() They support the largest population of shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) in Africa with an estimated population of roughly 5,000. Graham Hill: The Funny Lines We Draw Between Cute & Ugly Animals 2008 The shoebill, also known as the whalehead, is a large bird from East Africa. The shoebill image, taken by Doug Janson, is from here. Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo 2009 They may not be cute, or dying, but they are pretty fricking amazing if you ask me.Notable mountain forest birds are the Rwenzori turaco, Musophaga johnstoni and the handsome francolin, Francolinus nobilis also the forest ground thrush Turdus oberlaenderi and the shoebill Balaeniceps rex. And when you watch Africa, just remember, they’re only doing Surprise the shoebill is one of the species top on the list of any birdwatcher Remarkable size, striking appearance, and impenetrable habitat, it’s no The fossil record of shoebill ancestors is sparse, with some clear relativesįrom 30 million to 25 million years ago, but not much else. Genus name Balaeniceps ) enable them to capture largerįish than other stalking waders such as herons and storks, and unlike theseīirds they can also tear larger prey apart rather than having to swallow it Their massive bills (which give them both their English name and their latin Take gulps of air, at which point a patiently waiting shoebill will strike. In shallow or dwindling pools of vast swamps these fish come to the surface to Shoebills specialise in hunting catfish and lungfish Their closest living relative is almostĬertainly the hammerkop, another curious African bird also of murkyĮvolutionary affinities. They are more closely related to pelicans. Swamps) they have been allied with storks and herons, but DNA analysis suggests Their shape and feeding habits (stalking fish in the reedbeds of East Africa’s The birds are in a taxonomic family on their own. Their uniqueness belies their evolutionary history, which is something of a Resembling aĬross between a heron and a pelican designed by Jim Henson and viewed in aĭistorting mirror, they are unmistakable with anything else and utterly unique. Shoebills (Balaeniceps rex) are massive long-legged wading birds. Youngster, helped to spark my interest in evolution and ecology. A bird that, when I first saw it on a nature documentary as a But rather, I’d like to take a paragraph toĬelebrate the wonderful shoebill. Is nothing out of the ordinary, and many birds lay extra eggs as insurance policies, expecting that some offspring will not make it. Younger and smaller siblings to make up the calorie deficit – so this siblicide Won’t find enough voles and the older chicks will eat their way through their Out that in every series of Springwatch, we watch in fear that the barn owls That would be continuing in the anthropomorphism of the show. People do before midday each day (most of them on the tube in London), but It would be easy to point out 101 things more inherently preposterous,ĭestructive, uncaring, and designed to screw over our fellow human beings that ![]() Of the documentary and its wanton emotional toying with the viewer, is that THESEĪRE BIRDS. But what people seem to forget, easily done given the nature ![]()
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