image credit: sulla55
image credit: milesmilob
image credit: Jsysco
image credit: M.Maurice2009
image credit: Luke Robinson
image credit: WoodpeckarHabitat: Morocco & Syria
Status: Critically Endangered
It’s important to protect even the ugliest of mother nature’s babies, including the Northern Bald Ibis or Waldrapp as it is more commonly known. There are only around 500 birds remaining in the wild due to hunting, loss of habitat, and pesticide poisoning.
Unlike most ibises, these birds don’t prefer wetland habitats but instead dwell in barren, semi-desert, or rocky habitats. They also aren’t nearly as attractive as their relatives with their naked, cracked skin encompassed by long feathers that jet out in different directions.
If anyone remembers the movie The Dark Crystal (which scared me half to death when I was younger) I think the Waldrapp was the inspiration for the Skeksis. What do you think?
