Geronticus eremita
The waldrapp ibis is a migratory bird with glossy black plumage, an unfeathered red face and head, and a long, curved red bill.
Geronticus eremita
The waldrapp ibis is a migratory bird with glossy black plumage, an unfeathered red face and head, and a long, curved red bill.
The waldrapp ibis is native to coastal areas and cliffs of Morocco and very small breeding populations are also found in eastern Turkey and Syria.
They live around 20 years wild, and up to 24 years in human care
They are omnivorous birds, they eat insects, small reptiles, worms, small mammals and birds, berries, shoots, duckweed and aquatic plant roots.
The closest relative species, and only other member of the Waldrapp Ibis's genus, is the southern bald ibis (Geronticus calvus) which lives in South Africa. These two species (unlike other ibis) have unfeathered heads, breed in cliffs instead of trees, and prefer arid habitats to wetlands. Their genus name Geronticus means "old man" in Greek and refers to their wrinkled bald heads.
Flock
Beside the red pandas
Aves
Pelecaniformes
Despite usually living near running water, and unlike most members of the Ibis family, Waldrapp Ibis doesn't wade.
The genus name Geronticus means "old man" in greek and refers to their wrinkled bald heads, and eremita is a Latin reference to them being "desert hermits". Waldrapp is German for "forest crow"
Thanks to the fossil record, we know that he Waldrapp Ibis (and/or its close ancestor) has been around for at least 1.8 million years!
The waldrapp ibis breeds in colonies on coastal or mountain cliff edges, building a nest out of sticks and lining it with grass, and laying 2-4 rough-surfaced eggs, which are blue-white with brown spots when they are laid, but become brown during incubation.
Chick
25 days of incubation, both parents sit on the eggs
2 - 4 eggs in a clutch
35 - 45g
3 - 5 years
70cm / 1kg
80cm / 1.3kg
The waldrapp ibis is classified as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
There is thought to be around 147 breeding pairs in the wild, and less than 1000 in human care.
Habitat disturbance and dam construction, predation from ravens and vultures, and pesticides (DDT in the 1950s killed most of them).
Dublin Zoo is part of a breeding programme for this species and supports the Northern Bald Ibis Conservation Project in Morocco, in the hope of releasing this species back into the wild.
They are omnivorous birds- they eat insects, small reptiles, worms, small mammals and birds, berries, shoots, duckweed and aquatic plant rhizomes.
An ibis is a long-legged wading bird from the taxanomic family Threskiornithidae, these types of birds have been called ibis in Latin and Greek for hundreds of years, and they derived the word from the Egyptian name for these birds.
The plural of ibis is ibis, though in older or more classical texts and references you might see “ibides” or “ibes”.
Different species of ibis live all over the world, and there even used to be flightless ibis in Hawaii and Jamaica.
Usually a group of ibis are called a flock.
The Australian white ibis is native to Australia and is protected by law there.
All living ibis species can fly, although there are known to be 2 extinct flightless ibis species that used to live in Hawaii and Jamaica.
Cranes and ibis are two very separate lineages of birds, and though they are both long-legged wading birds, their evolutionary paths are quite different. Cranes are from an ancient order of birds which only has 5-10 species still living, while ibis are from a more recently evolved group, closely related to pelicans and herons.
Update your browser to view this website correctly. Update my browser now
