Fact #15: Shoebills breed during the dry season so nests won’t be damaged by flood waters. For this reason, shoebills tend to nest on dense vegetation floating on the surface of swamps and marshes. However, they still need a place to lay their eggs. Instead, they prefer to stay in the water where their food is located. Shoebills don’t like to nest in trees or directly on the ground. Fact #14: Shoebill nests are built on top of swamp grass. They do not, however, stay so far apart that they can’t have some strength in numbers if it’s necessary, especially against larger predators. These birds like some distance away from others of their species and prefer to keep their nests far apart. Fact #13: The shoebill builds its nest around 3km away from other nests. Breeding pairs do not stick together for very long, either. As soon as babies are big enough to be on their own, families of shoebills go their separate ways. The shoebill diet is easy for these birds to maintain since they are loners and tend to only worry about feeding themselves. They may eat rodents or small water birds if their other options are scarce. These birds mostly like to eat their favorite lungfish along with eels, lizards, and other similar prey. There are many rumors of shoebills eating prey as big as crocodiles or cows, but these are more or less just rumors. Fact #11: They can eat crocodiles, but prefer monitor lizards, eels, and lungfish. This works especially well when hunting for fish, but it is also a good strategy against lizards and small birds. They stand as still and quiet as a statue until their prey gets close, and then they ambush suddenly to grab fish and other creatures out of the water. Shoebill predators are very good at what they do. Fact #10: They stand still until prey gets close, and then ambush. One may even kill the other in some instances, and this is not all that uncommon among shoebills. When two birds in the same nest are still young, they are prone to beating each other up. These birds are not always friendly to each other, and in fact, they may attack each other sometimes without much warning. Fact #9: They can be known to attack each other, especially when they’re young. This can be extremely startling to hear in the middle of the wilderness.
Fact #8: They make sounds similar to machine guns.Īlthough they do have some vocal calls and cries that they use to communicate with each other, shoebills tend to make a clattering sound with their large beaks that is described as sounding like a machine gun being fired. When they’re kept in captivity, this number may go up a little bit, too. 35 years is the standard, but some may live a little less or more than this. While not as long-lived as some types of birds, shoebills can nevertheless live a long time in the wild.
Fact #7: Shoebills can live to be up to 35 years old. However, male and female shoebills don’t look very different outside of these changes.
They are a little bit taller and even have bigger beaks than their female counterparts. Male shoebills are usually upwards of 12 pounds, while females are about 10 or 11 pounds. The shoebill’s feet and claws look very similar to many dinosaur fossils, including two that it is believed these birds came from.įact #6: Male shoebills are bigger in weight, height, and bill size than females. This may sound like a dinosaur’s name, and there’s a very good reason for that! Like all birds, shoebills are a descendant of dinosaurs. The shoebill’s scientific name is Balaeniceps rex. Fact #5: The shoebill’s feet are like a dinosaur’s. It usually comes in at four to five times bigger than the bird’s body itself. Fact #4: A shoebill’s wingspan can be up to five times larger than its body.Īs big as a shoebill’s body is, its wingspan can be even larger. Many humans are not much taller than five feet, so shoebills are definitely large birds! They can also weigh up to about 12 pounds, making them a formidable part of the animal kingdom. Fact #3: A fully-grown shoebill is around 4 feet long and 5 feet tall. This may sound gruesome, but it’s just a normal part of life for the shoebill. Sometimes, the beaks on these birds can also be used to decapitate their prey. The shoebill, or Balaeniceps, has a very sharp beak tip that is meant for cutting their prey in half and making it easier to swallow. Fact #2: The tips of their beaks are very sharp and used to cut prey in half or decapitate them.
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