ANIMALS FINDER

Roseate spoonbill

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Hàbitat Natural
Location in the zoo

Escolta'l

Geographic distribution:

From the southern United States to northern Argentina

Scientific name:
- Platalea ajaja
Taxonomy:
- Class: Birds
- Order: Ciconiiformes
- Family: Threskiornithidae
Biology:
- Area of origin: America
- Habitat: Marsh
- Social life: Gregarious
- Food: Filtering food

Rating:
- Birds
Physical Characteristics:
- Longevity: more than 25 years
- Weight at birth:
- Middleweight: 1 - 1,5 kg
- Length: 70 - 95 cm
Reproduction
- Reproduction: Oviparous
- Incubation: 21 - 23 days
- Number of eggs: 1-5, generally 2-3

Risk level of the species

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Red list: Scale according to the situation of the species IUCN

Description

Spoonbills owe their name to their characteristic bill, a highly specialised organ in filtering through mud, where they find the small invertebrates on which they feed in marshlands, swamps, lagoons and estuaries in hot and temperate climates. Their diet is also made up of fish and amphibians.
The head is greyish, the nape black, the neck and shoulders white and the rest of the body pink, just like its legs and toes on the feet. Its eyes are red.
Its area of distribution is very large, stretching from the southern United States and northern Mexico, passing through Central America and south to northern Argentina, as well as different Caribbean islands.
They breed in quite numerous colonies, making their nests in bushes and trees close to the water.
Although they have been pursued by man to obtain their feathers in the last century, highly valued in the hat industry, this species is still common in many regions of its area of distribution, although also disappearing in many other regions due to the destruction of its habitat.

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