Writing about animal adaptations is fun. I’m not talking about giraffe’s long neck (to help it reach leaves on the tallest trees) or a woodpecker’s beak (perfect for tap, tap, tapping into the bark of trees to find insects). No. I am talking about all of the CRAZY adaptations out there that get so little press.

Take, for example, the shoebill stork. It has a big powerful beak. It can move stealthily through the swamps of eastern tropical Africa. But those are not its most interesting adaptations. The one that takes the cake is the fact that the birds poo on their legs to help them cool down. You read that correctly. Vultures do this too. Wow. Biodiversity is so cool.