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Birds | February 7, 2022 2:29 PM | hangbony

This bird eats crocodiles!

The shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) is a huge stork-like bird also known as whalehead, whaleheaded stork, or shoebilled stork. It gets its name from the shape of its bill, which is shaped like a shoe.

Its overall shape is similar to that of a stork, and it was previously categorized with storks in the order Ciconiiformes based on this morphology. Genetic evidence, on the other hand, places it within the Pelecaniformes. Adults are mostly grey, whereas juveniles are browner. Shoebills reside in extensive marshes in tropical east Africa, from South Sudan to Zambia.

They consume large fish such as lungfish, eels, and catfish, as well as bizarre creatures like as Nile monitor lizards, snakes, and newborn crocodiles.

A shoebill can have the same goofy appeal as the long-extinct dodo, or it can look like it’s about to attack at any moment, depending on your perspective.