The Terrifying Shoebill Stork Is Real
Now you might be saying to yourself, Shoebill, what’s so terrifying about a bird named Shoebill?
Joe Rogan discussed the shoebill in an episode of his podcast.
Joe freaked out over the birds existence claiming it looked “pre-historic.”
So let’s delve into the history of the Shoebill to find out what makes it so terrifying.
The History of The Shoebill
Let’s let the cat out of the bag: birds are close cousins with dinosaurs.
Avian dinosaurs to be exact.
The Shoebill got its name from the large shoe-shaped beak stuck to its face.
Don’t let the name fool you, because it’s also known as Balaeniceps Rex, in a family all on its own.
The Shoebill uses its beak to eat large lungfish, its food of choice, along with turtles, and oh yeah, young crocodiles.
Shoebills reach a height of 3.8 feet.
They are solid grey, with broad wings and long legs.
Back to that beak.
It’s about 7 inches long and almost as wide.
Other than eating, the Shoebill uses its beak to hold water for its eggs or chicks.
It also acts as a clapping mechanism, a quasi musical instrument or mythical machine gun to attract mates and scare enemies.
Living & Hunting With The Shoebill
The shoebill sets up shop in East African swamps along the White Nile.
They build nests out of plant material on top of floating vegetation.
The Shoebill uses a collapsing hunting technique.
It stands in shallow waters with low oxygen levels, where fish come up for air frequently.
The Shoebill stands perfectly still, sometimes for hours, waiting for its prey to emerge.
Once it finds a target, the Shoebill is all in.
It collapses its entire body weight on the prey, with its bill taking the majority of the impact.
If the Shoebill misses, it cannot recover in time to take another strike at the same prey because it’s off balance.
If the prey is caught, the shoebill moves its beak to shake off any excess grass and the fish is swallowed head first…unless the head falls off.
And of course they wash down their meal with a swig of water.
The Shoebill’s Strange Habit
One thing I didn’t mention about the Shoebill is an unattractive habit.
It’s this habit of defecating on its own legs.
Not because they have some kind of sick fetish.
There’s a method to the foul madness.
It lowers their body temperature, preventing them from overheating in hot African environments.
Something even crappier is that Shoebills are at risk of extinction.
Farming, ranching, fires, and pollution are threatening their marshland habitat.
Hopefully these beautiful birds don’t go the way of their dinosaur cousins.
