Marabou
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Marabou ( Leptoptilos crumeniferus ) |
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| Leptoptilos crumeniferus | ||||||||||
| ( Lesson , 1831) |
The marabou ( Leptoptilos crumeniferus ) is a species of bird from the stork family (Ciconiidae) found in Africa . The marabou is native to sub-Saharan Africa . Due to its adaptability, it is quite common in places and welcomed in human settlements as a waste and rubbish disposer.
Mark
Among the storks, the marabou is one of the largest representatives with a body length of between 115 and 152 centimeters. Its wingspan of 300 cm comes close to that of the Andean condor with 325 cm.
The head and neck of the marabou are only slightly astonished. The chunky beak is horn-colored. Its plumage is on the back, wings and tail dark gray with a green sheen, the underside is white. The throat pouch , which does not serve as a goiter , is also characteristic . It probably serves to regulate the temperature.
Way of life
As a scavenger , the marabou uses its extremely powerful, approx. 35 cm long beak to break open the abdominal wall of dead animals in order to get to their intestines. His bare head, like the vultures , identifies him as a scavenger. Without a spring, it is easier to remove blood and meat residues that stick to animal corpses when they penetrate and have to be removed for hygienic reasons. The birds naturally find it difficult to clean the head feathers. The flight image of the marabou is also reminiscent of that of vultures, as it hovering with widely spread wings looks for carcasses and pulls its neck like the vultures. Maraboos prefer to settle in areas where there is plenty of food and are therefore often found in the vicinity of human settlements, where they also like to search the garbage dumps. Marabous also feed on grasshoppers and other insects, the young of small mammals (e.g. mongooses ), flamingo chicks and also the fish and amphibians crowded together in the shrinking pools.
Reproduction
Since a particularly large number of animals perish in the dry season , the marabous lay their two to three eggs in such a way that the young hatch in the dry season, when the food supply for marabous is large. The breeding colonies are set up on trees or on rocky cliffs. The incubation period is about 30 days, with both parents incubating the clutch. The young animals then have to be looked after by their parents for a little more than four months.
Others
Since these birds are extremely useful as carrion and pest eaters, it is in the interests of humans to protect them as well as possible from persecution. Because of their soft under-tail coverts of the brood plumage, which have been used in the fashion industry and have always been used in forensics , these birds are highly hunted and endangered in some areas.
Even today, these feathers are used by the criminal police to make fingerprints visible on crime scenes . Soot powder is applied to the possible trace carrier by means of the springs. The feathers allow the powder to be applied gently so that traces of soot remain in the pressed papillary ridges .
literature
- W. Grummt , H. Strehlow (Ed.): Zoo animal keeping birds. Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-8171-1636-2 .
Web links
- Leptoptilos crumenifer in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed January 31 of 2009.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Leptoptilos crumeniferus in the Internet Bird Collection
Single receipts
- ↑ W. Grummt, H. Strehlow (Ed.): Zoo animal keeping birds . Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-8171-1636-2 . P. 101