COVER STORY: The Shoebill Stork

Abstract

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 2009, Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo became the first wildlife institution in North America to hatch a rare African Shoebill Stork chick, and just the second institution worldwide. The chick began pipping at approximately 7:30 a.m. on Dec. 25, and was observed fully hatched, alert, and vocalizing by the evening of Dec. 26.

The species' numbers in captivity are few, with only 11 adult Shoe bills in North America, wildlife institutions, three of which are housed at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo. The population of wild Shoebills is thought to number 8,000-10,000 with the species listed by IUCN as vulnerable, but difficult to estimate given the animals' native habitat of dense marches and swamps of East-Central Africa.

Known as one of the great bird species of Africa, Shoebills are tall (3.5 feet to 4 feet), darkly colored birds with unusually large bills up to 12 inches long and 5 inches wide that resemble the shape of a wooden shoe.

SYSTEMATICS AND MORPHOLOGY

The Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) has long been considered a member of the order Ciconiidae. Recent studies however, indicate that it shares several skeletal characteristics with the heron family or .Ardeidae. To complicate these taxonomic distinctions even more, the skull of this species shares many of the features found in pelicans or Pelicanidae. Most systematics still consider it to be the closest to storks but for the time being it has been placed in its own family and suborder Ciconiiformes. The most distinguishing feature of the species is its large bill with mandibles capable of decapitating prey. Some biologists believe that this large bill might be used to burrow in the mud for dormant lungfish, Shoebill's favorite food. Regardless, this feature without question is the most striking characteristic of this species.

COLLECTION HISTORY

Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo first acquired, through importation from Tanzania, 2.2 Whale-billed or Shoebill Storks on Jan. 5, 2006. One of the birds from this import, indicated to be a male, died shortly after arrival on Feb. 22, 2006 and upon completion of the necropsy was discovered to be a female. That left 1.2 Shoebill Storks in the collection until a second import of 1.1 occurred on Dec. 3, 2007, also from Tanzania but through a different importer. With a total of 2.3 storks, it was decided, in the best interest of the species, to send the extra female to the San Diego Wild Animal Park in Escondido, Calif., to pair with one of the males there rather than housing this female in a non-reproductive situation. San Diego was chosen because it had held Shoebill Storks in its collection since the 1980s and had them housed in an exceptional offsite facility.