10 Astonishing Truths About Shoebill Storks

Often dubbed the planet's most intimidating bird (though the cassowary might contest that title), shoebill storks are majestic waders that roam the wetlands of South Sudan, Uganda, and other parts of tropical East Africa. With their distinctive, unmistakable beaks, they skillfully capture prey. However, many myths surround these birds—starting with the fact that they aren’t true storks. Dive into these lesser-known details about these fascinating creatures.

1. Shoebill storks are masters of the intense gaze.

Inhabiting the expansive marshes of the Nile basin in eastern Africa, shoebills are impossible to confuse with other birds. Towering at 4 to 5 feet tall, they sport bluish-gray feathers and boast a wingspan exceeding 8 feet. Their most striking feature is their massive, clog-shaped bill, which dominates their face. These birds can remain almost completely still for hours, their bills tucked against their necks. Paired with their piercing golden eyes, this posture creates an eerily effective death stare.

2. Shoebills might share a closer kinship with pelicans than storks.

For centuries, scientists have grappled with the shoebill's classification on the evolutionary tree. Some experts argued that the shoebill's syrinx, or voice box, closely resembles that of herons in the Pelecaniformes order, which includes ibises, pelicans, and boobies. Others pointed out that herons possess unique feathers that release a powdery down for grooming, a feature shoebills lack, suggesting they belong to the stork family, Ciconiiformes. “There’s no doubt it’s either a heron or a stork, but which one?” zoologist Frank Evers Beddard wrote in 1905. Modern research on shoebill eggshell structure and DNA has since reinforced their classification within the Pelecaniformes order.

3. Shoebills engage in self-soiling behavior.

Shoebills exhibit urohydrosis, a practical yet off-putting behavior where they defecate on their legs to regulate body temperature. This trait once baffled taxonomists, as some believed it aligned shoebills with true storks, all of which use their waste for cooling purposes.

4. European naturalists first encountered shoebills in the 1840s.

Ferdinand Werne, a German diplomat and explorer, became the first European to learn of the shoebill. During his 1840 African expedition to locate the White Nile's source, Werne set up camp at Lake No, part of the vast Sudd wetlands in present-day South Sudan. Local guides described to him “an astonishing bird, as large as a camel, with a pelican-like bill but lacking a pouch,” as recorded in a 1908 issue of The Avicultural Magazine.

A decade later, Mansfield Parkyns, a collector, brought two shoebill skins to England, offering British zoologists their initial glimpse of this peculiar bird. At an 1851 British Zoological Society meeting, naturalist John Gould detailed the shoebill using Parkyns’s specimens and assigned it the scientific name Balaeniceps rex.

5. Shoebills are also known as whale-headed storks.

Balaeniceps rex translates to “whale-head king,” a nod to its bill’s resemblance to a baleen whale’s head (and, of course, a shoe). Other names for the shoebill include boat-bill, bog-bird, lesser lechwe-eater (hinting at its supposed appetite for lechwe, or aquatic antelope), and abu markub, meaning “father of a slipper” in Arabic.

6. Shoebills have a particular fondness for lungfish.

Lungfish, a shoebill’s delicacy, are air-breathing, eel-like fish that can grow over 6 feet long. Shoebills also feast on eels, catfish, lizards, snakes, and even baby crocodiles. To hunt, shoebills remain motionless in the water, waiting for prey to approach. In a flash, they “collapse” onto their target, spreading their wings and plunging bill-first to seize the fish. Once caught, they use their sharp bill edges to decapitate the prey.

7. Shoebills live up to their fearsome reputation.

Victorian-era photographers quickly discovered that shoebills could be as aggressive as they appeared. “The shoebill can deliver a powerful bite,” noted 19th-century zoologist Stanley S. Flower wrote, “and is far from safe for an inexperienced person to approach, a fact we often emphasize to amateur photographers eager to capture close-up ‘snap-shots’ of Balaeniceps. It’s been amusing to witness their enthusiasm vanish when, as instructed, they face the bird’s shrill screams, gaping bill, and half-spread wings, poised as if to attack.”

8. Shoebills have long been a rare and fascinating attraction in zoos.

In the 19th century, the Sudanese government declared the shoebill a protected species, yet collectors still tried to bring them to zoos. Flower, then director of the Zoological Gardens in Giza, Egypt, transported three shoebills alongside a menagerie of animals, including four giraffes, nine antelopes, a lion, a leopard, three servals, two ostriches, two porcupines, an aardvark, five tortoises, a crocodile, and more, on a train from Khartoum to the gardens. Temperatures soared to 118°F, causing the stressed shoebills to regurgitate their meals. When the fresh fish Flower ordered failed to arrive, he fed them canned shrimp instead. Remarkably, the birds survived the journey and thrived in captivity for at least five years. Today, only a few public zoos, such as the Prague Zoo in the Czech Republic, Pairi Daiza in Belgium, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and the Dallas World Aquarium, house shoebills.

9. Shoebills command high prices on the black market.

Shoebills seldom breed in captivity; in the past century, only two chicks have been born. All shoebills in modern zoos were either bred there or legally sourced from the wild. Sadly, their rarity and allure have made them a target for poachers in the illegal wildlife trade. As reported by Audubon magazine, private collectors in Dubai and Saudi Arabia are willing to pay $10,000 or more for a live shoebill.

10. Shoebills face the threat of extinction.

According to the IUCN Redlist, there are only 3300 to 5300 mature shoebills remaining globally, and their population is declining. These iconic birds are endangered due to human activities such as habitat destruction from agriculture, livestock grazing, oil and gas exploration, wildfires, pollution, and more. Conservation efforts by international wildlife organizations and local groups are underway in South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia, with patrols to prevent poaching. However, greater efforts are essential to ensure the survival of shoebills.