Up to now, when mentioning the beauty of birds, people often think of peacocks first because of their colorful feathers. However, in the vast nature, with diverse animals, there are still other birds that are also extremely proud, gorgeous and even make people jealous of their beauty, and one of them is the Secretarybird – the golden bird in the village of long legs and long eyelashes.
With its striking appearance, the name “secretary bird” is very suitable for this special bird species.
Secretarybird or snake-eating kite, is a bird of the Sagittariidae family (scientific name Sagittarius serpentarius). In addition to the rigid, long and dry scientific names of this species, people often call it by another name, which is the secretary bird. They call it that because of its appearance with a tuft of feathers on its head like the quill pens or worn on the heads of secretaries in 18th century Europe. Besides the special name, hearing it once is memorable, secretarybird also has super long legs and super long, beautiful, glossy eyelashes that any woman would envy. This feature is proof that the name secretary is more suitable and memorable than any other name.
This bird is endemic to Africa, usually found in the grasslands and sparse savannas of the sub-Saharan region. It is easily recognized by its large body, somewhat resembling an eagle or a falcon. The average secretary bird is about 1.3m tall, weighs 3.3kg, is about 112cm to 150cm long, and has a wingspan of 191cm to 225cm. Because of this, it is larger than any other diurnal bird of prey.
This breed has a pair of luxurious eyelashes that every girl desires.
Despite its somewhat “feminine” appearance, it is a notorious killer in the wild. It hunts by walking around in the grasslands, and when necessary, it can still accelerate to catch its prey. The secretary bird’s main food is small mammals, reptiles, birds, and insects. And true to its name, the snake eater, it cannot say no to snakes, even venomous snakes are no match for it.
When encountering prey, it will chase and use its beak and legs to attack the opponent until death. In addition, the snake-eating kite will spread its wings and raise the tuft of feathers behind its head to scare its prey. Some studies suggest that the terror bird that lived 5 million years ago in the dinosaur era also had the same hunting strategy.