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  Profile

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  In flight

Cranes & Waders

Shoebill

Balaeniceps rex

• rare
• 32 km/h
• Vulnerable

Stands motionless for hours, then strikes. That prehistoric stare means your message arrived.

Population

~5,000–8,000 individuals total (roughly 3,300–5,300 mature), decreasing

Habitat

Extensive, poorly-oxygenated freshwater swamps and seasonally flooded marshes with papyrus, reeds, cattails, and mixed aquatic vegetation; occasionally rice fields and flooded plantations

Fun fact

The Shoebill's massive, shoe-shaped bill can exceed 20 cm and is powerful enough to snap up and even decapitate lungfish and small crocodiles in a single strike.

Range

East-central tropical Africa across nine countries: South Sudan (Sudd — stronghold, roughly half the global population), Sudan, Uganda, eastern DR Congo, Rwanda, western Tanzania, northern Zambia, with smaller/marginal populations in Ethiopia and Central African Republic; non-migratory

Diet

Primarily fish (lungfish, bichir, tilapia, catfish), also frogs, water snakes, monitor lizards, and occasionally baby crocodiles or small waterbirds, taken via ambush from a motionless stance

Size

1.2 m

Wingspan

2.45 m

Lifespan

36 years