This stork doesn't deliver babies. It eats them! A giant bird with a big appetite, the marabou will chow down on almost anything-dead or alive-including a young animal helpless to defend itself. The marabou stork's main weapon is its long, knife-like bill, which can stab deep into a victim's body or clasp smaller prey in a death grip. This bird feasts on animal flesh, which can lead it to gulp down some of the most rotten, grossest things imaginable!
Bill Collector: This bird's bill is long (up to 13.5 inches in length) and pointed like a dagger. The marabou stork shakes small prey in its beak to break their necks, but uses its bill to stab much larger prey, usually in the back, to make the kill.
Pink Pouch: The marabou stork has an ugly pink sac of naked skin on the outside of its throat. The bird can inflate it to show dominance over other marabous, attract mates during breeding season and even cool off on a hot day.
Disgusting Diet[]
The stork's legs look white because it poops on them to cool off.
The marabou stork's favorite prey are aquatic insects and fish, but those aren't always available in the dry African landscape. The bird makes up for that by adding some of the most awful-sounding meals to its menu. The stork eats the stinking leftovers of large kills made by lions, sometimes even shoving hyenas and vultures out of the way with its stabbing bill. If desperate, the marabou stork rummages through trash heaps and scraps thrown outside of slaughterhouses, and even pokes through large piles of poop to search for dung beetles.
Noisy Neighbors: These birds often nest together in breeding colonies that can contain up to 1,000 members! This makes for crowded trees, and the storks communicate (often angrily) with loud calls that sound like those of cows and donkeys.
Lakeside Dining: When the marabou stork finds a drying lake filled with weak fish, it stands and holds its beak open in the water. If it feels something bump against it, it snaps its beak shut and swallows its meal whole.
Chick Fillet[]
- While flying high in the air, a marabou spots a colony of flamingoes and swoops down to find a meal. The stork walks slowly through the colony, making stabbing motions at the adults to intimidate them.
- The stork finally manages to chase an adult flamingo from its nest, leaving a young flamingo vulnerable. Seizing its opportunity, the marabou stork grabs the young bird in its bill, shakes it vigorously to kill it, and swallows it down.