---
title: "What the sources say about the Shoebill Stork | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "54 claims from the Shoebill Stork profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/shoebill-stork-1.webp"
canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/shoebill-stork/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the Shoebill Stork (*Balaeniceps rex*)

> 54 claims from the Shoebill Stork profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Shoebill Stork](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/shoebill-stork/)

## Balaeniceps rex (shoebill). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Balaeniceps_rex/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Fish surface more often in the poorly oxygenated water where shoebills are also found | They are also found where there is poorly oxygenated water. This causes the fish living in the water to surface for air more often |
| its head and neck quickly stretch forward into the water, and the bird overbalances and collapses forward and down onto the fish | The head and neck quickly stretch forward into the water causing the bird to over-balance and collapse forwards and downwards |
| The bird comes up with a mouthful of vegetation along with the catch | Along with the prey, a mouthful of vegetation is also collected |
| It swings its head from side to side to work the vegetation loose, then usually decapitates its catch before swallowing | shoebill storks sway their heads from side to side while keeping hold of the prey ... Before swallowing, the prey is usually decapitated |
| The bill is the shoebill's most striking feature | The bill is the most prominent feature of shoebill storks |
| yellowish with dark blotches | The color of the bill is yellowish with blotchy dark spots (note: natgeo-shoebill gives the same colouring as 'Tan with brown splotches') |
| with a sharp hook on the end and sharp edges on both mandibles | an enormous structure ending in a sharp, curved hook ... The mandibles have sharp edges |
| It is often seen soaring on thermals above its territory during the day | Shoebill storks soar on thermals and are often seen soaring above their territory during the day |
| Its main prey is lungfish, bichirs, catfish, tilapia and water snakes | The main part of their carnivorous diet consists of lungfish ( Protopterus ), bichirs ( Polypterus ), catfish, tilapia ( Tilapia ) and watersnakes |
| On occasion it also takes frogs, turtles, monitor lizards and young crocodiles | On occasion, they will also consume frogs, monitor lizards, turtles, young crocodiles |
| Shoebills form monogamous pairs to breed, but even partners keep their distance, often foraging on opposite sides of their territory | Shoebill storks form monogamous pairs for breeding ... Often, the male and female of a breeding pair will forage on opposite sides of their territory |
| Prey, such as a lungfish, usually loses its head before the shoebill swallows it | lungfish ( Protopterus ) ... Before swallowing, the prey is usually decapitated |
| Shoebills are mostly silent, but they often make a clattering sound with their bills, a habit typical of true storks | Shoebill storks are usually silent, but will often participate in bill-clattering, a behavior characteristic of true storks |
| Adults often do it to greet each other at the nest | Adults will often do this when greeting each other at the nest |
| young shoebills do it too | young shoebills also perform the bill-clatter |
| Lungfish, bichirs, water snakes, baby crocodiles, and monitor lizards | lungfish ( Protopterus ), bichirs ( Polypterus ), catfish, tilapia ( Tilapia ) and watersnakes ... monitor lizards, turtles, young crocodiles |
| dangerLevel: Low | Shoebill storks are very docile with humans (note: task #708; Low = 'Effectively harmless to people' (facetMetadata.ts). No cached source reports harm to people.) |
| pairs often greet each other at the nest by clattering their bills | Adults will often do this when greeting each other at the nest (note: vibe.reason; 'this' is the bill-clattering of the previous sentence) |

## Shoebill. EDGE of Existence, Zoological Society of London.

https://www.edgeofexistence.org/species/shoebill/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The shoebill measures 100 to 140 centimeters | Size: 100-140 cm (note: EDGE gives 'Size' without saying height or length, so the page says 'measures') |
| weighs between 4 and 7 kilograms | Weight: 4-7Kg (note: EDGE species factsheet, species scope) |
| The nest is large and flat, usually built on a mound of floating vegetation or a small island | The nest is large and flattened, built amid swamp grasses or sedges and usually on a mound of floating vegetation or a small island |
| Usually only one chick survives, because the larger chick, generally the first-born, outcompetes or kills its siblings | typically only one nestling survives due to inter-sibling rivalry, where the larger (generally first born) chick will out-compete and/or kill its siblings (note: 'because' paraphrases the source's own 'due to') |
| An estimated 5,000 to 8,000 shoebills are left | The global population is currently estimated at between 5,000-8,000 birds |
| Threats include habitat destruction, pollution and capture for the live bird trade | undergoing a continuing decline owing to the effects of habitat destruction and degradation, pollution, nest disturbance, hunting, and capture for the live bird trade |
| It's the only living species in that family and the only one in its genus | Shoebills are the only member of their genus Balaeniceps, and the only living member of their family, Balaenicipitidae |
| weightKg: 5.5 | Weight: 4-7Kg (note: task #708; midpoint of EDGE's range. The whole range is inside the engine's Light class (0.1 to 10 kg), where the name guess gave Medium. Not in a curated matchup.) |

## Shoebill. National Geographic.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/facts/shoebill

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| can stay motionless there for hours | Shoebills can stay motionless for hours |
| waiting for a lungfish to break the surface for air | when a hapless lungfish comes up for air |
| The move is called "collapsing." | practice a hunting technique called "collapsing," which involves lunging or falling forward on their prey |
| about a foot long and five inches wide | foot-long bill ... it's five inches wide |
| an eight-foot wingspan | an eight-foot wingspan |
| Both parents incubate the eggs and cool them with water carried in their bills | both birds tend to the eggs and young. This includes incubating and turning eggs, and cooling them with water they bring to the nest in their large bills |
| The bill is about 30 centimeters (a foot) long and 13 centimeters (five inches) wide, shaped like a clog with sharp edges and a sharp hook on the end | foot-long bill that resembles a Dutch clog ... it's five inches wide and has sharp edges and a sharp hook on the end (note: 30 cm and 13 cm are metric conversions of the source's foot-long/five-inch figures) |
| A shoebill can wait without moving for hours, then lunges or falls forward onto its prey in a move called "collapsing." | Shoebills can stay motionless for hours ... practice a hunting technique called "collapsing," which involves lunging or falling forward on their prey |
| Freshwater marshes and swamps of East Africa, from Ethiopia and South Sudan to Zambia | the freshwater marshes and swamps they inhabit in East Africa, from Ethiopia and South Sudan to Zambia (note: range: 'endemic to Africa and inhabit the east-central part of the continent', with smaller populations in eastern Zaire and Rwanda) |
| Massive clog-shaped bill with sharp edges and a sharp hook, used to grab large prey such as lungfish in a lunging strike called "collapsing." | foot-long bill that resembles a Dutch clog ... sharp edges and a sharp hook on the end ... allows the shoebill to grab large prey, including lungfish ... practice a hunting technique called "collapsing," which involves lunging |
| Prehistoric-looking swamp stalker | this lethal prehistoric-looking bird |
| a foot-long bill shaped like a clog | foot-long bill that resembles a Dutch clog |
| It lives in the freshwater marshes and swamps of East Africa, from Ethiopia and South Sudan to Zambia | the freshwater marshes and swamps they inhabit in East Africa, from Ethiopia and South Sudan to Zambia (note: final pass: the body named no range after the reviewer cut 'central and east Africa') |
| waits without moving for hours | Shoebills can stay motionless for hours (note: vibe.reason, task #708) |
| then pitches its whole body forward onto a lungfish in a lunge called "collapsing" | practice a hunting technique called "collapsing," which involves lunging or falling forward on their prey (note: vibe.reason; lungfish as the waited-for prey is NatGeo's 'when a hapless lungfish comes up for air') |

## Stork. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/stork

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Despite the name, the shoebill is not a stork | Shoebills were considered part of the stork family until recently |
| DNA studies found it more closely related to pelicans | DNA studies revealed that they are closer related to pelicans |
| It was taken out of the stork family and now sits alone in its own family, Balaenicipitidae, inside the order Pelecaniformes | So now, shoebills are in the Order Pelecaniformes within its own family, Balaenicipitidae |
| Shoebills were once classified with true storks, but DNA comparisons showed a closer link to pelicans instead | Shoebills were considered part of the stork family until recently. DNA studies revealed that they are closer related to pelicans |
| so taxonomists reclassified the bird into the order Pelecaniformes and gave it a family of its own, Balaenicipitidae | So now, shoebills are in the Order Pelecaniformes within its own family, Balaenicipitidae (note: the source's own sentence uses the same connector: 'So now') |

## Buxton, Slater & Brown (1978). The breeding behaviour of the shoebill or whale-headed stork Balaeniceps rex in the Bangweulu Swamps, Zambia. African Journal of Ecology.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2028.1978.tb00440.x

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A clutch is normally two eggs, though one is frequent and three occasional | C. 2 is normal, C. 1 frequent, C. 3 occasional |
| In one breeding season studied in Zambia, the single chick first left the nest at 95 days | Observations made through almost the whole of one breeding season are summarized ... The fledging period is 95 days to first leaving the nest ... Usually, as in this case, one young is reared ... about six prey items were required daily by the single young (note: 'single' is the abstract's own 'the single young'; 'almost the whole of one breeding season' is the observation span, not a hedge on the 95 days) |

## Hedges & Sibley (1994). Molecules vs. morphology in avian evolution: the case of the "pelecaniform" birds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.91.21.9861

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| DNA studies found it more closely related to pelicans | DNA.DNA hybridization data indicated that the pelicans are most closely related to the Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) (note: second, corroborating source for the same body sentence) |

## Acácio et al. (2021). Changes in surface water drive the movements of Shoebills. Scientific Reports.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-95093-5

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Seven shoebills tracked by GPS over five years in Zambia's Bangweulu Wetlands | Using GPS transmitters deployed on six immature and one adult Shoebills over a 5-year period (note: six immatures plus one adult is seven birds) |
| moved less than three kilometers on 81 percent of days | on 81% of days, birds moved less than 3 km |
| their yearly home ranges averaged around 1,500 square kilometers | mean 95% kernel = 1514 km 2 (± 1172) and 1547 km 2 (± 1296) for adults and immatures, respectively (note: rounded the two age-class averages (1514 and 1547 km2) to 'around 1,500') |

## Balaeniceps rex. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T22697583A133840708.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2018-2.rlts.t22697583a133840708.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| the IUCN lists the species as Vulnerable | IUCN Red List category: Vulnerable (VU) (note: read through GBIF's copy of the Red List) |
| Vulnerable | IUCN Red List category: Vulnerable (VU) (note: same assessment as the body's status claim) |