Marabou Stork Skull Replica

$182.00

The Marabou Stork is native to much of Africa south of the Sahara. This large stork has a wingspan of 10 feet, and a bald head but spends much of its time on the ground foraging for food. Marabous feed primarily on carrion and small vertebrates.

Description

Marabou Stork Skull Replica measures 14.1 inches. Marabou Stork Skull Replica is museum quality polyurethane cast. 2-part skull (separate cranium & jaw). Made in USA. Cast from California Academy of Sciences specimen. Our precise skull can be used as a teaching tool, museum skull exhibit, home décor skull, or office décor skull.

The Marabou stork, Undertaker Bird or Leptoptilos crumenifer is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It is sometimes called the “undertaker bird” due to its shape from behind, cloak like wings held slightly back, skinny white legs, and sometimes a large white mass of “hair”.

The Marabou is unmistakable due to its size, bare head and neck, black back, and white underparts. It has a huge bill and a pink gular sac at its throat.

The Marabou stork or Leptoptilos crumenifer is a massive bird, large specimens are thought to reach a height of 60 in. and a weight of 20 lb.

A wingspan of 12 ft was accepted by Fisher and Peterson, who ranked the species as having the largest wing spread of any living bird.

Female Marabou stork or Leptoptilos crumenifer are smaller than males. Bill length can range from 10.4 to 13.8 in.

Leptoptilos crumenifer eats mainly carrion. It occasionally eats other birds including quelea nestlings, pigeons, doves, pelicans and cormorant chicks, and even flamingos.

During the breeding season, adult marabou stork or Leptoptilos crumenifer scale back on carrion and take mostly small, live prey since nestlings need this kind of food to survive.

Marabou Storks will eat just about any kind of animal, dead or alive. Living prey includes termites, fish, locusts, grasshoppers, army-worm caterpillars, frogs, rodents, crocodile eggs and hatchlings, quelea nestlings, doves, young and adult flamingos, cormorant nestlings, and pelican chicks.

Though known to eat putrid and seemingly inedible foods, these storks sometimes wash food in water to remove soil.

The Marabou or Leptoptilos crumenifer breeds in colonies, starting during the dry season. The female lays two to three eggs in a small nest made of sticks; eggs hatch after an incubation period of 30 days.

Their young reach sexual maturity at 4 years of age. Leptoptilos crumenifer lifespan is 41 years in captivity and 25 years in wild.

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Additional information

Weight 5 lbs
Dimensions 14.1 in
Marabou Stork Facts

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Ciconiiformes
Family: Ciconiidae
Genus: Leptoptilos
Species: L. crumenifer
Binomial name: Leptoptilos crumenifer
Conservation status: Least concern