Shoe-billed storks, great blue herons, and eagles are three types of birds that have a unique hobby of eating crocodile meat.
Shoebill stork is named after the peculiar shape of this bird’s 30 cm long beak. This unique bird comes from Africa. They are relatively large in size, adult birds are 115–150 cm tall, 100–140 cm long, have a wingspan of 230–260 cm and weigh 4–7 kg.
The shoe-billed stork is a descendant of the small-sized “Theropod” dinosaur – the same group of T-Rex dinosaurs.
Their main food is fish, but if given the opportunity, this stork also eats crocodiles, fish, lizards, snakes, turtles, and even newborn antelopes.
The shoebill stork’s beak has a wide and sturdy structure and is curved into a hook shape, so it can pierce crocodile skin. The edge of the bird’s beak is extremely sharp and can easily cut the flesh of its prey. Therefore, this bird is considered a natural enemy of crocodiles, especially baby crocodiles.
2. Great blue heron
The great blue heron is a large bird belonging to the heron genus Ardeidae with an average height of 1.3 meters, a length from head to tail of about 1.3 meters and a span of more than 2 meters.
They commonly live in open waters and wetlands in North and Central America.
The great blue heron is a deadly predator. They can eat anything that fits in their beak. The favorite foods of this large bird are fish, shrimp, crabs, insects, mice, other small mammals, frogs, snakes, and reptiles. Thanks to its very large beak, elastic esophagus and stomach, the great blue heron can also swallow large prey such as baby crocodiles and baby sharks.
3. Eagle
Eagles are predators at the top of the food chain, they have almost no natural enemies if in healthy condition.
Eagles’ food is diverse, ranging from reptiles, especially monitor lizards, baby crocodiles and snakes, including venomous snakes, to birds, such as chickens and geese.
