The Leptoptilos Crumenifer, commonly known as the Marabou Stork, is widely known in Africa -- its home. Briefly written about in Christian Parenti's book, Tropic of Chaos, the Marabou Stork is said to be the "mascot of drought" (Parenti, pg. 61). While traveling to Garissa, Parenti came across "massive flocks of them perched everywhere" and refers to them in a matter that paints them to have a sole purpose of eating the marrow from the bones of the cattle killed by the drought. However, Marabous have a much bigger purpose and are not simply the "mascots of drought". They are, however, being taken out by climate change and biodiversity loss in Africa.
With the urbanization and building of more cities all over Africa comes a huge loss of ecosystems and environmental homes to so much wildlife. The drought that Parenti talks about has caused many farmers in Africa to look elsewhere for jobs and move out of the rural areas. With the booming population in the major cities, including Nairobi which is Kenya's capital. Though these important birds are found all over Africa, they tend to stay around humans -- as we are the largest waste producing population around. And though these storks rely on waste and carrion for food, over urbanization, overpopulation, and less trees push the storks into a very small box.
You may think a huge bird in Africa that is usually referred to as "ugly" and has been written about in a dark and disturbing novel called "marabou stork nightmares" is not important. But lots of animals that you would never take a second glance at are sustaining the environment that we depend on. On the infonile.org website, it is stated that "Marabou storks are crucial in balancing the ecosystem. They help clean up the environment by eating away animal remains and waste. This helps to prevent and control the spread of diseases." If disease did spread and made its way to humans, the people in Africa would have another problem to add to their list.
The Marabou storks are typically found sitting up high in trees, looking over the land and waiting for food. Parenti pointed out seeing them perched everywhere in the trees. In an article in The Standard, the Nairobi Expressway is talked about and the birds that have lost their little piece of home -- their trees -- are left to walk the sidewalks with humans -- who have criticized them for ages.
In the peer reviewed article in Western's Library, the decline of the Marabou's population is talked about and researched in West Africa. These important birds are dying due to urbanization of Africa which has been caused, primarily, from climate change and the effects it has on the land and Africa's weather cycles. Though this bird may not be the most pretty to look at, it serves a great deal of humans in cleaning up and protecting other animals from diseases.
Climate change is forcing animals out of their homes, harming their environments and affecting biodiversity globally. Though we cannot go back in time and erase what we have already done to this Earth, we can work to mitigate further effects on our home. Extinction is permanent. When a species dies out, there is no way to get them back. And more than the storks and the people in Africa will suffer.
Sources and URLs
https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/nairobi/article/2001426773/nairobi-marabou-storks-lose-their-home-to-expressway
https://infonile.org/en/2022/11/urbanisation-dwindles-marabou-storks/
https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/g20010808/Marabou-The-Misjudged-Bird/
https://kabiza.com/the-marabou-stork-is-the-unofficial-national-bird-of-uganda/
Gula, Jonah, and Clive R. Barlow. “Decline of the Marabou Stork (Leptoptilos Crumenifer) in West Africa and the Need for Immediate Conservation Action.” African Journal of Ecology, vol. 61, no. 1, 2023, pp. 102–17, https://doi.org/10.1111/aje.13087.
Great post! An aspect of biology I always enjoy are organisms that never get the praise they deserve simply because they aren't appealing to the eye. I liked that you explained the importance of the stork and its role in the ecosystem, despite the mentality many people hold towards it in Kenya. The goal of conservation should be to conserve the ecosystem as a whole, and that includes the Marabou stork.
ReplyDelete-Jackson
DeleteHi Savanah, I loved reading this! I have seen posts on social media about how this bird is so scary, yet I never realized how important they are in the food chain and food web. I hope that the bone marrow of the dead cattle will be able to sustain them for some time, climate change shouldn't be able to take this wonderful bird from its home.
ReplyDeleteHey Savanah great post! I like that you pointed out one of the reasons that the Marabou follow humans is because of the waste that we produce. It's amazing to me that there exists an animal that part of it's food source is bone marrow. I remember reading about them in another class and and how droughts impact Marabou because bone marrow in their prey animals changes when they experience starvation.
ReplyDeleteHey Savannah! I think this is a really meaningful topic to elaborate on from the book. Oftentimes when we think of the impacts of climate change, we think of it in terms of its impact on humankind. However, there are huge impacts on the animals that live on earth as well. I thought it was important how you brought up biodiversity and how these storks serve to clean up and protect other animals. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Savannah! I thought that your topic that you choose is interesting to read about since I enjoy learning about different animals. Yes, some might not think they're pretty, but not everything in the world is and they help out people so much. For example, they not only protect the people there from disease, but other animals too. They really are essential to this area.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Savanah! I loved reading this. I like how you took the perspective of looking at a species other than humans, I know I tend to focus on humans and forget that this has terrible effects for species other than our own as well. I especially like that you focused on a species that is not necessarily popular or fits the standard of "cute animals we need to save" as these species rarely get the attention they need and deserve. Thanks for shedding light on this issue!
ReplyDeleteI wonder why they prefer to stay around humans? I get that we are the largest waste producers, but I hope that changes are made so that this preference does not endanger their species security. Specifically in regards to the heavy increased urbanization we are going to see in Africa with new mega cities emerging.
ReplyDeleteHi Savanah, really nice post! You set up your work in a really concise way that allows us to read it really well. I never heard of Marabous so learning that Typically, storks may be seen perched high in trees, surveying the landscape and waiting for prey, was really fascinating.
ReplyDeleteHi Savanah, this was such an interesting topic to read about! I think focusing on a species featured in Parenti’s book was a really cool direction to take for this assignment. Knowing we are in a mass extinction, it makes sense that so many species are struggling to maintain their habitat and way of life (humans included). The storks have such a crucial role to perform in maintaining the environment; I thought it was so interesting that they can actually help prevent spread of disease by eating animal remains.
ReplyDeleteHey Savanah
ReplyDeleteSo funny we chose the same topic! I too was curious about the Marabou stork and its situation when we read the book. In a way, the Marabou is the waste collector of West Africa! It is sad that the birds migrate to be around human scraps when that puts them in more danger with hunters!