Hi Steemit family!

Today I bring you a very rare but charming bird at the same time, looks like taken from a magic tale, lives in Africa and has a huge resemblance between a stork and a pelican and eagle head, I'm talking about the Balaeniceps rex or Shoebill, although its name has more to do with the shape of a shoe. Come with me to know some of its main characteristics.

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Its appearance has given much to talk about giving it different qualifiers that in my opinion are all correct, the sad thing is that it is in a critical state. its population in terms of number refers to almost disappeared. The scientists nicknamed her as the whale head king.

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Its discovery was in XlX century, its size can be really big if we take into account its dimensions, the males of this species can measure about 160 centimeters high and its extended wings can reach up to 260 centimeters wide, the females have one 30 centimeters less in contrast with the proportions of the male.

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Although they are in danger of extinction this bird in natural state can get to live half a century, this is due to its low metabolism and because they reach sexual maturity in a late stage of their life. Its beautiful plumage has a mixture of colors ranging from bluish gray with some green, has a color as if it were ash, black legs and yellow eyes.

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As far as their behaviour is concerned, this bird has a somewhat difficult character, they are solitary and spend long periods without exchanging absolutely anything with any species of their family, unless it is the mating season. The rest are able to spend years in the same place as long as they have plenty of food, their staple foods are amphibians, snakes, rodents and one or another aquatic bird.

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It is extremely difficult to spot this bird during the day since its feeding habits are at night, during the day it dedicates itself to shelter and sleep and at night it is ready to hunt until a new dawn.

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Although these birds only gather in mating season, it is usually with the same couple with which to reproduce, even today it is difficult to determine how it is possible for these birds to meet again, females can lay about 4 eggs maximum and the young after leaving the cascade only took 2 months to reach the meter of height.

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They are specifically located in eastern and tropical Africa. This means that the highest concentrations of woodpecker are found from Sudan to Zambia. During the breeding and breeding period, the woodpecker usually lives in marshy areas of seasonal flooding, such as Tanzania and Uganda.

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They love wet swamp-like places, in this habitat are all the resources for the life of this amazing species.

The main threats to this bird, which is about to disappear, are, for example, its hunting to be traded as an exotic bird, the destruction of its habitat as a result of mining or monkeys.

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Different groups even armed seek to defend not only this species but others that are like the Balaeniceps rex in danger of disappearing, in Tanzania for example there are no laws to protect the bird, making vulnerable hunting to be consumed as food.