The second and sometimes third egg is more like an insurance policy. Then, with the fish in its mouth, it decapitates it by grinding the sharp edges of its bill together. —Jake Rossen, Senior Staff Writer. The shoebill is a large species of bird that has a distinctive bill shape unlike any other. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. They are monogamous birds that share parental responsibilities. They are entirely gray, with broad wings and long legs. If the first egg is infertile or lost to predation, the adults are still able to produce offspring. When the second chick hatches, the parents do not make an effort to distribute food equally, and so it competes with its elder, well-developed sibling. Unlike sweat, this method of cooling also involves a preventative measure. —Michele Debczak, Senior Staff Writer, John Ajvide Lindqvist’s 2004 Swedish novel chronicles the friendship of a young boy named Oskar and his enigmatic new friend, Eli, who happens to be a very old vampire. The liquid waste that these birds excrete from there cloaca is a mixture of feces and urine. In this book, Orsk, a Swedish furniture store in Cleveland, Ohio, is the scene of some very paranormal activity, which spurs a handful of employees to brave an overnight shift to find out the origins of these malevolent spirits. Biologydictionary.net, July 19, 2020. https://biologydictionary.net/shoebill-stork/. —E.S. Some birds are monogamous and work as a team to raise their chicks, while others are polygamous or promiscuous and prefer to mate with as many partners as possible. You really can’t mistake them for any other bird: They grow 4 to 5 feet tall, have bluish-gray plumage and an 8-plus-foot wingspan, and their bill, which takes up a majority of their face, looks like a huge Dutch wooden clog. No Shoebill Storks currently listed for sale The Shoebill Stork has long broad wings and is a great flier when it needs to be, but the bird is partially nocturnal which makes it usually a little sluggish in nature. Your ginormous Frankenbird Dutch clog bill is flipping me out! Yum, lungfish! —E.M. This type of bird can be found in Africa and mainly lives in swamps. Corrections? Urohidrosis is a cooling method, much like sweating, that enables the bird to cool down. A German diplomat and explorer named Ferdinand Werne was the first European to hear about the shoebill. But unlike snakes, a platypus’s venom isn’t in his teeth. From a survival point of view, it is better to have one healthy chick than several that are weak and unlikely to survive. This area is home to a lot of fish, which is the shoebill storks primary food source. Unfortunately, their scarcity and mystique have also made shoebills a sought-after bird for poachers in the illegal wildlife trade. Few things are scarier than actual history, as Stacy Schiff's painstakingly researched and beautifully written account of the Salem Witch Trials—which began in 1692 and ended less than a year later, with 25 people dead—shows. https://www.britannica.com/animal/shoebill, San Diego Zoo Animals and Plants - Shoebill, shoebill - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Here are a few things you might not have known about this quirky creature. The evaporating liquid leaves behind a white, powdery substance that can reflect sunlight and prevent the legs from getting warm in the first place. —Ellen Gutoskey, Staff Writer. However, other morphological and genetic analyses suggest a closer affiliation with pelicans (family Pelecanidae) and with the hammerhead, another African waterbird whose taxonomic position is unclear. Shoebills also chow down on actual eels, catfish, lizards, snakes, and baby crocodiles. Instead, their milk is released out of mammary gland ducts on their abdomen. $9.82 shipping. It revolves around a teenage outcast named Carrie White who gets bullied at school and has to deal with an abusive mother at home. Let the Right One In has all the trappings of a grade-A horror story—bloodlust, mystery, plot twists, etc.—set against a backdrop of real-world issues, from bullying to alcoholism. Often described as one of the scariest books ever, Shirley Jackson's tale of four paranormal investigators who set up shop in a haunted house will fill you with creeping dread, making it the most perfect of reads for this time of year. The taxonomic placement of the shoebill is a matter of some debate. In the 19th century, the Sudanese government made the shoebill a protected species, but that did not stop collectors from attempting to transport shoebills to zoos. Most of the time, the primary function of the platypus's tail is just to store up to nearly half of the animal's body fat in case of a food shortage. Get exclusive deals, product news, reviews, and more with the Mental Floss Smart Shopping newsletter. They are primarily terrestrial, so providing perches and flying area is less necessary than in some other avian species. Other names for the shoebill include the boat-bill, bog-bird, lesser lechwe-eater (referring to the shoebill’s alleged taste for lechwe, or aquatic antelope), and abu markub, or “father of a slipper” in Arabic. Shoebill Stork. A German diplomat and explorer named Ferdinand Werne was the first European to hear about the shoebill. Shoebills rarely breed in captivity: In the last hundred years at least, only two chicks have hatched. Shoebills practice urohydrosis, the effective—if revolting—habit of defecating on their legs to lower their body temperature. A female platypus also uses her tail to hold incubating eggs against her warm body. It's one of the largest, strangest birds in Africa, and learning more about it will take you on a journey of everything from decapitation to deforestation. Shoebills stand about 115 cm (3.8 feet) tall. Shoebill Stork Care In a zoological setting these birds must be provided with plenty of enclosure space, and an appropriate wading pool. Siblicide is when one of the offspring kills its sibling. In 2013, the discovery of a single tooth helped researchers identify a prehistoric platypus that was more than three feet long—double the size of the modern animal. Biologydictionary.net Editors. An animal’s primary goal is to survive and pass on their genes, and there are several examples of how animals do this in nature. This prehistoric-looking bird is also believed to be related to the now-extinct dinosaurs! Although platypuses are born out of leathery eggs, the babies nurse from their mother. Instead, males have a hollow spur on each hind leg from which venom is dispensed—but only sometimes. The mechanisms that birds use can range from focusing their energy on a small clutch of eggs, or having a large brood to increase the probability of survival. Sign Up Today: Get exclusive deals, product news, reviews, and more with the Mental Floss Smart Shopping newsletter! The shape of a bird’s beak is designed for eating particular types of food and offers a big clue as to what the primary source of food is. Then, the bird swiftly “collapses” on its target, spreading its wings and diving down bill-first to ambush the fish. Much like an otter, they prune their thick coat to add air bubbles that act as insulation in the cool rivers where they hunt. Their diet of fresh fish that Flower had ordered never materialized, so he resorted to feeding the birds canned shrimp. Aside from fish, they also prey on water snakes, frogs, monitor lizards, and young turtles. However, what we do know demonstrates some amazing biological concepts! The temperature rose to 118°F and the irritated shoebills barfed up their dinners. According to Audubon magazine, private collectors in Dubai and Saudi Arabia will pay $10,000 or more for a live shoebill. It has traditionally been grouped with the herons, storks, and ibises (order Ciconiiformes) on the basis of behavioral and morphological studies. —J.S. Female platypuses, however, don’t have nipples. Updates? Shoebills live in the vast wetlands of the Nile watershed in eastern Africa. Parents Vic and Donna are having marriage issues, and their son Tad can't sleep due to the terrors coming from his closet. Shoebill chicks are covered in a thick, silvery-grey down and already have a wide gape.

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