Storks are a family of large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. There are 19 different species of stork, in six genera.
Chinese lore connects the stork to longevity, as they've been known to live anywhere from 20 to 30 years old.
In Christianity, storks represent purity as they'd keep snakes and serpents, long synonymous with evil, at bay.
The legend of storks delivering babies goes back several hundred years. During the Victorian era in Germany, parents would tell this tale to children who were deemed too young to be told anything different. Hans Christian Andersen popularized the fable in The Storks, a short story he wrote in the 19th century about a family of storks and their life's work: delivering babies.
Many species of stork are migratory and the origin of the association of storks delivering babies is likely derived from the bird's nine month migration which timed perfectly with the human female gestation period.
Europeans first realized that storks migrate to Africa during winter in 1822 because they found a stork that still had an arrow from a Central African tribe in it.
Klepetan is a male stork who since 2001 has migrated from South Africa to Croatia every year to be with Melena, a female stork who can't fly after being shot by a hunter. She lives indoors until his return and they stay in a nest on a roof until he leaves. They've had over 40 babies.
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| White stork Pixiebay |
Chinese lore connects the stork to longevity, as they've been known to live anywhere from 20 to 30 years old.
In Christianity, storks represent purity as they'd keep snakes and serpents, long synonymous with evil, at bay.
The legend of storks delivering babies goes back several hundred years. During the Victorian era in Germany, parents would tell this tale to children who were deemed too young to be told anything different. Hans Christian Andersen popularized the fable in The Storks, a short story he wrote in the 19th century about a family of storks and their life's work: delivering babies.
Many species of stork are migratory and the origin of the association of storks delivering babies is likely derived from the bird's nine month migration which timed perfectly with the human female gestation period.
Europeans first realized that storks migrate to Africa during winter in 1822 because they found a stork that still had an arrow from a Central African tribe in it.
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| Pixiebay |
Klepetan is a male stork who since 2001 has migrated from South Africa to Croatia every year to be with Melena, a female stork who can't fly after being shot by a hunter. She lives indoors until his return and they stay in a nest on a roof until he leaves. They've had over 40 babies.
A Polish environmental charity put a SIM card in a GPS tracker to follow the migratory pattern of a white stork. They lost track of the stork and later received a phone bill for $2,700; someone in Sudan had taken the SIM from the tracker and made over 20 hours of calls.
Storks are generally considered to be monogamous creatures, but are very social — feeding and nesting in large flocks.
While females lay the eggs, both sexes divide the responsibility of incubating.
Storks usually live near shallow bodies of water where they wade through the water, and catch small animals, like crabs, frogs or small fish.
Stork nests are often very large and may be used for many years. Some nests have been known to grow to over two metres (six feet) in diameter and about three metres (ten feet) in depth.
The White Stork is known to build large nests in high places, like on chimneys.
Several bird species often nest within the large nests of the white stork. Regular occupants are sparrows and common starlings.
Beforehand, people believed storks were monogamous, that they only had one partner in life. More recent research has shown though, that they may change partners. They are attached to a nest almost as much as to a partner.
Storks are large to very large waterbirds. They range in size from the Marabou Stork, which lives in Africa, which stands 152 cm (60 in) tall and can weigh 8.9 kg (20 lb), to the Abdim's stork, also from Africa, which is only 75 cm (30 in) high and only weighs 1.3 kg (2.9 lb).
The Marabou Stork has a wingspan of up to 320 cm. This makes one of the largest birds still alive, together with the Andean Condor and the largest albatrosses and pelicans.
The black stork population has been declining for many years in Western Europe and the bird is no longer a summer visitor to Scandinavia.
Source Alexandani
Storks are generally considered to be monogamous creatures, but are very social — feeding and nesting in large flocks.
While females lay the eggs, both sexes divide the responsibility of incubating.
Storks usually live near shallow bodies of water where they wade through the water, and catch small animals, like crabs, frogs or small fish.
Stork nests are often very large and may be used for many years. Some nests have been known to grow to over two metres (six feet) in diameter and about three metres (ten feet) in depth.
The White Stork is known to build large nests in high places, like on chimneys.
Several bird species often nest within the large nests of the white stork. Regular occupants are sparrows and common starlings.
Beforehand, people believed storks were monogamous, that they only had one partner in life. More recent research has shown though, that they may change partners. They are attached to a nest almost as much as to a partner.
Storks are large to very large waterbirds. They range in size from the Marabou Stork, which lives in Africa, which stands 152 cm (60 in) tall and can weigh 8.9 kg (20 lb), to the Abdim's stork, also from Africa, which is only 75 cm (30 in) high and only weighs 1.3 kg (2.9 lb).
The Marabou Stork has a wingspan of up to 320 cm. This makes one of the largest birds still alive, together with the Andean Condor and the largest albatrosses and pelicans.
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| Marabouu stork. Mikumi National Park, Tanzania. Wikipedia |
The black stork population has been declining for many years in Western Europe and the bird is no longer a summer visitor to Scandinavia.
Source Alexandani
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