So Where Does The Stork Get The Babies? Quiz

Answer: Antarctica

Storks are warm-blooded creatures so need warm temperatures to survive. Many migrate to warmer places during the winter months and nearly all live near some kind of wetland. Antarctica, although close to water (and being mainly made of water!), is too cold for the warm-blooded stork to survive. There also would not be enough of a food source to support the rather large appetite of a group of storks.

Answer: Carnivore

The body of a stork, as with a lot of other birds, is designed for the digestion of proteins as found in live prey. One type of stork, the marabou stork, is actually a scavenger and will eat prey whether dead or alive. An herbivore has a diet consisting of cellulose fibres such as those found in plant material and certain types of bacteria. An omnivore is a species that uses both animal and plant material as its primary source of food.

A vegan diet is that which excludes all animal products including meat, dairy products, eggs and food processed using animal products.

This type of diet is found in the human population and is generally a diet choice, as opposed to a 'natural' eating habit.

Answer: Pink

The painted stork is similar looking to an ibis, with a long, slightly downward-curved yellow bill. The head is red-orange and the black and white plumage is off-set by beautiful pink feathers covering the 'tail' of the bird while at rest. The legs of the painted stork are yellow-red yet often look white due to the fact that they defecate on their legs.
The painted stork can be found in Southeast Asia, particularly India, eastern China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Answer: Underground

Storks are known to build their nests on cliff-ledges and man-made structures, in trees, and also on the ground. The size of their nests (sometimes over two metres, or six feet, in diameter!) would suggest that they need to be on the ground but this is not so.

A quick 'google' search for "stork nest" will show you several pictures of stork nests on the top of power poles, on the roofs and chimneys of buildings, and even a hilarious photo of a nest on top of a car! Even though a nest may have been built in a previous year, the stork pair will add to their nest each season they return to it, even if just a few sticks or a patch of turf.

This 'redecorating' occurs even if there are no eggs or chicks to care for. Small birds such as wrens, sparrow or starlings may 'share' the stork nest by building their own nest in gaps between sticks.

Answer: Largest wingspan of all living land birds

According to Wikipedia, both the Andean condor and the marabou stork have a wingspan of 3.2 metres (10.5 feet), the widest of all living land birds.
The marabou stork is the largest of the storks and can reach up to 150cm in height (60 inches) and can weigh over 9kg (20 lbs). They are also unlike most other storks in that they fly with their necks retracted (ie tucked in, instead of held out long and straight). The marabou stork actually looks similar to a pelican only it has longer legs and no 'pouch' in its beak.

Answer: Brown stork

The correct name for the hammerhead stork is hamerkop, but is also known by any of the following names: anvilhead, tufted umber, hammerkop, hammerkopf, umbrette, hammerhead, hammerhead stork, or umber bird. The shape of the bird's head (with long, pointed bill at the front and the tuft of feathers at the back) is similar to the shape of a hammer, hence the bird's name. The hammerhead stork is designated as medium-sized and grows to about 56 cm long (nearly two feet) and 470 grams (about one pound). Apart from having the hammer-shaped head, the hammerhead stork is coloured a completely brown and otherwise unremarkable.

Answer: By 'clapping' the top and bottom part of the bill together

A stork can make sounds such as hissing, whistling and grunting, although because of their underdeveloped syrinx these noises are very quiet. By tipping the head back and tightening the pouch at the throat the stork can amplify any noises it makes. 'Clapping' the top and bottom parts of the bill together makes a rattling sound which, according to one source, sounds similar to a machine gun and can be heard up to one kilometre (half a mile) away.

Answer: 60%

Stork chicks will eat around 60% of their bodyweight each day and are dependent on their parents for supplying this food for them. The chicks will start to flap their underdeveloped wings after about three to four weeks then learn to fly several months later when their flight feathers grow. Sources vary but the approximate life span of a stork is around 10-12 years in the wild, and up to about 40 years in captivity.

Answer: Africa

While most storks live in places where the weather is warm all the time, some do live in areas where there is a greater variance in temperature, such as Europe or Asia. The European and Asian white storks travel vast distances both along the Strait of Gibraltar and across the Middle East to get to the southern coast of Africa and warmer weather. Being large birds, storks would need a massive amount of energy to be able to flap their wings quickly and repeatedly to fly like smaller birds.

Instead, they glide on thermals (warm columns of air) to be able to conserve energy for those long flights.

Thermals tend to form where there is a border between sea and land due to temperature differences, so storks will follow the coastline or only pass over small distances of open water when they are migrating and travelling great distances.

Answer: Midsummer

The myth about storks bringing babies originated in northern Germany with the European white stork. Locals used to encourage the storks nesting on their homes believing the storks were a symbol of prosperity and fertility. As these particular storks are migratory birds, they only nested for a short period of time yet returned each year approximately nine months after midsummer, making their return in the spring time coincide with the birth of many babies - both human and other.