If a scientist describes you by the clog-like beak coming out of your face, youre making it onto the list. A pretty big species, it stands up to a metre and a half tall and can weigh up to 7kg. The shoebill is actually Vulnerable to extinction, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, with as little as 5,000 birds left in the wild. Its namesake is not only clog-like, but a bulbous bill, dappled yellow with scratches of black and grey and stains of fleshy pink. As if to match its huge honker, the shoebills feet are unusually big. Not that it uses them all that much; the shoebill is a statuesque bird, spending long periods motionless until an unwitting fish is scooped up into its clogger. The beak is also used in displays as a means to communicate, where the shoebills clatter their beaks, moo like cows and whine in high-pitched cries attractive, if youre a shoebill. It gets better, when baby shoes are hungry, their calls apparently sound just like human hiccups.
