If you’ve seen the viral video of the large shoebill bird landing on a boat in Africa’s Mabamba Swamp, you might be asking yourself if such a prehistoric-looking, seemingly giant bird could be real.
The simple answer is yes.
Shoebills indeed have very large bills, as their name implies. If you’ve seen a shoebill at a zoo or if you're among those fortunate enough to have seen one while sightseeing in Africa, you might have found its bill unforgettable.
A shoebill's most prominent feature is one of the longest bills of any bird species living on Earth, even though they're not as large as the video makes them appear. If you haven’t seen the video, you can check it out here. The Instagram account that shared the shoebill video, Mabamba Trips, is affiliated with a wildlife trip operator in Uganda.
Shoebills are among a group of birds often compared to dinosaurs for their distinctive appearances. For example, wood storks, a protected bird that has been making a comeback in the Southeast, are sometimes compared to pterodactyls because of their oddly shaped beaks and black heads.
