WHAT'S NEW
Births Hatchings Acquisitions By Donna Bear, Curator of Species Management and Jasmine Alvarado, Species Management Officer
Yellow-billed stork (Mycteria ibis) Yellow-billed storks frequent the wetlands south of the Sahara Desert in Africa and even Madagascar. The yellow-billed stork is in the same genus and family as our own native wood stork and shares many similarities. Both species migrate based on food availability and both species breed during the peak to end of the raining season, relying on wetland drying to concentrate food. Yellow-billed storks and their wood stork cousins hunt food tactically. They swish their feet around in the water with their bills open and partially submerged. When a prey item touches the bill, they snap it closed in as quick as 25 milliseconds to capture prey. The yellowbilled stork has been known to follow crocodiles and hippopotamus to feed on prey items that were disturbed by their movements. In the beginning years of monitoring our wood stork colony on Zoo grounds, we practiced placing satellite tags on our own yellowbilled storks before deploying them on the wild wood storks. Yellow-billed storks and the wild wood storks also nest in colonies around the same time in our Zoo. Yellow-billed storks are located in the River Valley Aviary. They can also be seen in the aviary located at the end of the Africa Loop on Main Path, shortly past Stingray Bay.
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WILD MAGAZINE • SUMMER 2021 • JACKSONVILLE ZOO AND GARDENS
