marabou
(also called ‘marabout’; ‘marabou stork’; ‘undertaker bird’ — for the right pronunciation of ‘marabou’, please click here & for the different pronunciations of ‘marabou stork’, please click here)
a kind of bird – wading bird – belongs to stork family – large, with bare scabby head, black back and slat-grey wings, white underside, long thick sharp beak (bill), long bare neck, long thin black leg, two pink air sacs (= a round balloon-like skin fold which can be blown with air) – a medium-sized one on the back and a large one hanging from the throat, neck ruff (= a tuft of feathers round the neck); size: 3-4½ feet tall, and weight: 5-8 Kg. (males are larger than the females); feeds on (eats) termites, insects, and live or dead animals, including birds and fish, and now-a-days at the fishing camps, slaughter houses (abattoirs) garbage dump sites feeding on the human refuse; lives for 20-25 years in captivity; found in Africa and only in some limited parts of Asia and Europe
an ugly bird?
Of all the storks, marabous are considered the ugliest, with their bald heads and necks, long thick beak (bill), and long thin legs!
In addition, the air sac that hangs from the throat which the marabou uses to make its mating calls, and the disgusting habit of squirting their excrement (shit) on their own long thin legs, making the legs look white instead of their natural black colour!
marabou feathers
Nevertheless, the marabous are useful birds – cleaning the dead bodies of other animals by feeding on them along with the vultures, and eating the insects which are pests!
The soft underside tail feathers (down) of the marabou are used to trim the hats, clothes and other fancy items, and as fishing bait!!
And marabous are intelligent, too: they walk in front of the grassfires catching any frightened animals that come out of their hide outs in order to escape from the oncoming fire!!
1.
marabou (noun) =
(a) a Swedish chocolate brand
(b) a name for a multi-racial person in Haiti, an island nation in the West Indies
(c) raw silk that can be dyed without being separated from the gum
2.
marabout (noun) = a Muslim hermit or saint (in north of Africa); a tomb of such a hermit or saint
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