Sunday 19 May
Marabou stork (Leptoptilos crumeniferus)
What’s the World’s Favourite Species?Find out here.
Marabou stork fact file
- Find out more
- Print factsheet
Marabou stork description
With its huge, ungainly stature, balding pink head and enormous wedge-shaped bill, it is easy to see why many consider the Marabou stork to be a somewhat ‘ugly’ bird (2) (3) (4) (5). In flight, it soars elegantly with large, dark grey wings spanning almost three metres from tip to tip, but on the ground it walks hunched on long, gangly legs (3) (6). A fleshy, inflatable, pink wattle dangles conspicuously below its bill, and a white collar rings the base of its nearly featherless, pink neck (2) (3) (4). The back and tail are dark grey, like the wings, while the underparts are off-white (2) (4) (6). Although the natural colour of the legs and feet is dark grey, the build up of excrement makes them appear almost white (2) (5). Unlike the adults, immature marabou storks have a woolly covering to the head, and a darker plumage (5) (7).
- Also known as
- Marabout d'Afrique. Top
- African Wildlife Foundation:
- BirdLife International:
- The act of incubating eggs, that is, keeping them warm so that development is possible.
- IUCN Red List (October, 2009)
- Alden, P., Estes, R., Schlitter, D. and McBride, B. (1996) Collins Field Guide to African Mammals. Harper Collins Publishers, London.
- Burnie, D. (2001) Animal. Dorling Kindersley, London.
- Burton, M. and Burton, R. (2002) International Wildlife Encyclopedia. Marshall Cavendish, New York.
- Smithsonian National Zoological Park (September, 2009)
- Liebenberg, L. (1990) A Field Guide to the Animal Tracks of Southern Africa. David Phillips Publishers, Cape Town.
- Newman, K. (2002) Newman's Birds of Southern Africa. Struik Publishers, Cape Town.
- BirdLife International (August, 2009)
- view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
- download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
- teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.
Marabou stork biology
Behaving more like a vulture than a stork, the marabou is a consummate scavenger, eating just about any animal it can find as carrion (2) (3) (5). Typically, it soars at height, scanning the ground for food, and often congregates around large carcasses with other scavengers such as vultures (2) (5) (6) (7). Furthermore, this species has taken full advantage of the encroachment of human settlements, frequenting dumps, slaughterhouses and fishing villages for discarded scraps (2) (3) (5). However, despite its slightly macabre reputation, the marabou does also take a variety of live prey including lizards, frogs, various insects, snakes, rats, mice and birds (5) (6) (8).
A gregarious bird, the marabou stork is often seen in groups, with up to 1,000 individuals gathering in close proximity to roost at night (8). It also congregates to breed during the dry season, with colonies ranging in size from 20 pairs up to several thousand, often along with other species. The male arrives first and establishes a territory, whereupon it greets all newcomers with hostility, whilst inflating its throat pouch. Eventually, a courting female will be accepted by the male, and the pair will set about building a stick nest, around 10 to 30 metres above the ground in trees or on cliffs-ledges, and sometimes on buildings in towns and villages (2) (4) (5) 8). When the nest is finished, the female lays a clutch of two to three eggs, which are incubated over 29 to 31 days. The chicks fledge when around 13 to 15 weeks old, but do not reach sexual maturity until at least four years of age (4) (5).Top
Marabou stork rangeTop
Marabou stork habitatTop
Marabou stork status
Classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List (1).Top
Marabou stork threats
Owing to its indiscriminate feeding habits and its willingness to scavenge around human activities, the marabou stork population is actually increasing through large parts of its wide range (3) (5). However, despite the fact that it is usually considered an unattractive target for hunters (5), this stork is known to be traded at traditional markets in Nigeria (8).Top
Marabou stork conservationTop
Find out more
To find out more about conservation in Africa, visit:
For more information on this and other bird species please see:
AuthenticationThis information is awaiting authentication by a species expert, and will be updated as soon as possible. If you are able to help please contact: email@example.comTop
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.