Search results
Aug 24, 2020 · Secretary birds have an incredible way of hunting that allows them to devour the venomous snakes they like to eat. These birds hunt on foot and stomp on the ground to expose prey. Once it spots its next meal, the secretary bird will stomp on a snake with a force about 5 times its body weight.
- Aves
- Accipitriformes
- Animalia
- Chordata
- No one is quite sure where it got its name. There are a few different theories, including that it was named by Dutch Settlers because of its resemblance to 19th Century Lawyers’ Secretaries.
- Its scientific name means “the archer of snakes”. This is because secretary birds love to hunt snakes. They use their large wingspan to distract the snake, while their scaley legs prevent snake bites.
- They rarely fly. They move around on foot most of the time, only taking to the air to reach their nests or for courtship displays.
- They have a wingspan of 2m. This is huge! They use their wings while hunting to distract their prey, and also during mating rituals.
They sometimes capture prey by striking at it with their short, hooked beaks, but more famously, secretary birds use their large feet and sharp claws to stomp it to death. Snakes are a...
Secretary Bird Stomps Snake to Death. Their powerful legs serve as inspiration for robots and prosthetics. And these birds feast on venomous snakes. Find out what's behind the secretary...
- 4 min
- 113.3K
- Crazy Creatures
When attacking larger animals like poisonous snakes, the bird jumps on the snake’s back and breaks the back or the neck. They sometimes also take the snake in their grasp and start flying before dropping the latter to its death. They flush out their prey out of hiding, by stomping on the vegetation around it.
People also ask
Do secretary birds eat snakes?
How does a secretary bird stomp on a snake?
What happens if a snake strikes a secretary bird?
How do Secretary Birds hunt?
Secretarybirds are carnivores. Their diet consists of insects such as locusts and beetles, mammals ranging in size from mice to hares and mongoose, crabs, lizards, snakes, tortoises, small birds, bird eggs, and sometimes dead animals killed in grass or bushfires.