Birds · Ciconiiformes · Ciconiidae

Marabou Stork

Leptoptilos crumenifer

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

An enormous and unmistakable stork: black back and wings, white underparts, a bare pinkish head and neck, a massive dagger-shaped bill, a ruff of white feathers on the neck and a hanging pink gular sac at the throat. Its legs are white from urohidrosis.

Weight

9 kg on average

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

Colony

Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

Estimated population

Between 100,000 and 300,000 individuals according to Namibia's Environmental Information Service; another source cites between 200,000 and 500,000 in 2006

Carnivore Diurnal Colonial Bird

43countries 66parks6same family

Fun facts

It is credited with the largest wingspan of any land bird alongside the Andean condor, though the figures of more than 3.19 m in circulation have never been verified.
Its bare head and neck are an adaptation to scavenging, the same one the vultures it usually eats alongside have: feathers there would become matted with blood.
In English it is called the 'undertaker bird' for its silhouette from behind, with its wings like a cloak and its thin white legs.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
Habitat & environment: Marshland and savannah of sub-Saharan Africa, both wet and arid, often near human settlements and especially at rubbish dumps

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List; Hancock, Kushlan y Kahl 1992, Storks, Ibises and Spoonbills of the World; Wood 1983, The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats; eBird; Environmental Information Service Namibia