Field notebook
Opening the requested public page…
Field notebook
Opening the requested public page…
Animal profile
Sagittarius serpentarius
A tall, long-legged bird of prey that hunts on foot across African grassland, with grey and black plumage and a crest of long head plumes. It kills snakes, lizards, rodents and insects mostly by stamping. Despite its terrestrial habits it flies well and nests in the crowns of flat-topped trees.
A secretarybird stamps on snakes and lizards with a strike so brief that measurement required high-speed video. The foot contacts prey for roughly 10 to 15 milliseconds, delivering force several times the bird's own body weight.
Force-plate measurements on a trained secretarybird recorded kicks of roughly 195 newtons, about five times the bird's own weight, delivered in contacts lasting around fifteen milliseconds. The strike is faster than the bird could correct with vision alone.