This odd-looking bird is a charismatic giant that can live up to 25 years in the wild. It has piercing eyes and and can grow up to 1.5m tall with a wingspan of 1.6m.
For some, its cartoon-like charm is magnetic, for others it's a menacing-looking predator. It is hunted for its meat and eggs and threatened by the illegal live bird trade.
Sue Watt delves deeper into the weird and wonderful characteristics of the shoebill, and looks at what's being done to protect it.
Where do shoebills live?
These strange birds are unique to Africa, with the Sudd wetlands of South Sudan having the largest population, followed by Bangweulu, and smaller populations in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
They are solitary birds that come together only in the breeding season.
Can shoebills fly?
The wingspan of a shoebill can measure up to 2.6m. Shoebills fly with their neck curved over their back in order to support the weight of their head.
How many shoebills are there?
Living in such remote, inaccessible habitats, the species’ total numbers are unknown but estimated to be between 5,000 and 8,000.
What do shoebills eat?
Shoebills are efficient at fishing: they are perfectly designed for it.
They stand motionless in the water, often for hours on end, their very long toes helping to spread their weight and to move undetected.
Their sharp vision means they can spot the slightest movement even in murky waters or grassy riverbeds. The huge, razor-sharp bill, for which they are renowned, enables them to quickly snatch the fish.
They then flap their wings vigorously to help tug their catch out of the water, often with a beak-full of grasses and roots.
The hook on the tip of the bill prevents their slippery feast from escaping as the shoebill sheds the grasses then cracks the fish’s skull and swallows it whole in a single satisfying gulp.
Shoebills have a hooked beak that helps them catch prey such as African lungfish and catfish.
They will also opportunistically feed on frogs, young turtles, snakes and other small animals.
What family of birds is the shoebill in?
Shoebill taxonomy has long been debated: the giant has been variously considered to belong to the stork, heron and pelican families. In fact, it is monotypic, or the sole member of its family, Balaenicipitidae.
What’s the lifespan of a shoebill?
They can live up to 25 years in the wild.
Where is the best place to see a shoebill?
Zambia’s Bangweulu wetlands is deemed the best place in Africa to spot one of the birding world’s most sought-after prizes: the quirky, prehistoric-looking shoebill. It’s like a huge shallow lake with a shoreline that moves up to 20km between seasons.
Bangweulu means “where water meets the sky”. Spanning 6,000km2 of north-eastern Zambia, its beguiling wetlands are a designated Ramsar site and a BirdLife Important Bird Area: some 680 species of bird have been recorded in its seasonally inundated grasslands and swamps.
Some 80–100 shoebills are believed to live in Bangweulu. The best times to see them are between April and June, or in the breeding season from August to October.
Rains start in November and the plains are flooded from January to April, drawing myriad migratory birds. From May the floods start to recede, black lechwe and other mammals; by October, the plains are parched.
Why do shoebills only raise one chick?
Shoebills are gawky young birds with scruffy feathers, spindly legs, an enormous beak.
Viewers of BBC One’s spectacular series Africa, screened in 2013, might recall the tragic footage of an older shoebill chick viciously attacking its weaker sibling, which is then abandoned by the parents and left to die.
Such siblicide is a common scenario, with the second chick believed to be an evolutionary ‘back-up’ in case the first dies. But it doesn’t always happen.
It’s evident from the guardian programme’s statistics that more than one chick survived in some nests. However, it is rare and depends on whether the parents can bring enough fish.
What are the main threats to shoebills?
Classed as Vulnerable, threats to their survival include losing their reed and papyrus habitat through fires and human encroachment. Also, being stolen from nests to be kept as pets or to be sold to private collectors as part of the lucrative illegal wildlife trade.
Some chicks are killed by natural predators.
What is being done to protect the shoebill?
In Zambia’s Bangweulu wetlands, African Parks (AP) manage and protect its special wildlife and curtail spiralling poaching and the degradation of its ecosystem.
AP works in partnership with Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) and the six chiefdoms’ Community Resource Boards in an unusual system of co-governance that focuses on community-driven conservation.
What about local community conservation?
AP came up with an innovative solution to the birds’ survival: Bangweulu’s fishermen have become shoebill guardians. They report nests and eggs they’ve come across, protecting them until the chicks fledge, usually within three months.
For the additional income they receive on fledging, the guardians’ duties involve checking the nests regularly, watching out for suspicious activity or people, educating others on shoebill conservation and preventing fires.
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