They claimed that the hammerkop would make the rain stop to prevent itself from drowning.
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On 1 May 1903 she faced 12 rivals in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket and was ridden by Herbert Randall. Baroness La Fleche started the race as the 15/8 favourite. Also near the front of the betting was Skyscraper at 9/4, Quintessence at 4/1 and Hammerkop at 100/7. At the start three fillies - Sun Rose, Guigne and Hammerkop - got tangled in the webbing.
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It houses over 50 individual birds made up of 12 different species including the sacred ibis, crowned cranes, hammerkop, white-cheeked touraco and lilac breasted roller.
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It houses over 50 individual birds made up of 12 different species including the sacred ibis, crowned cranes, hammerkop, white-cheeked touraco and lilac breasted roller.
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Hammerkop (July Stakes) started favourite ahead of Sun Rose, who had appeared to be an unlucky loser in the 1000 Guineas, with Our Lassie, ridden by Mornington Cannon, next in the betting on 6/1 in a ten runner field which also included Valve, Dazzling and Skyscraper (who had won the Cheveley Park Stakes since beating Our Lassie at York). The race was a rough one, with Dazzling being brought down after a collision with Sun Rose at Tattenham Corner, at which point the 33/1 outsider Ladies Mile led from Hammerkop with Our Lassie in third. Hammerkop went to the front in the straight but Our Lassie gained the advantage a quarter of a mile from the finish and drew away to win "easily" by three lengths from Hammerkop, with Skyscraper a head away in third place. Jack Joel reportedly won £10,000 by backing his filly in a double bet with the Epsom Derby winner Rock Sand.
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Scopus xenopus was slightly larger than the hamerkop and Olson speculated based on the shape of the tarsus that the species may have been more aquatic. The hamerkop is also known as the hammerkop, hammerkopf, hammerhead, hammerhead stork, umbrette, umber bird, tufted umber, or anvilhead.
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Hammerkop, Spion Kop's dam was a top-class staying racehorse who won the Yorkshire Oaks in 1903 and the Cesarewitch Handicap in 1905, but produced no other winners in a long stud career. Spion Kop was sent into training with Peter Gilpin at his Clarehaven Stables at Newmarket, Suffolk.
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The Pelecaniformes in particular have a distinct hook or "nail" on the billtip, which is even present in the otherwise plesiomorphic bill of the hammerkop (Scopus umbretta). If E. eocaenus was a pelecaniform, it probably also possessed this "nail", but apart from that its bill might just as well have evolved autapomorphies as bizarre as those of the pelicans.
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Other mammal species that make use of the baï include western lowland gorilla, African forest buffalo, red river hog, and a resident population of sitatunga. Numerous bird species also frequent the clearing, from the common hammerkop to Hartlaub's duck. The vegetation of the baï consists mostly of Cyperaceae and Poaceae. Areas of Pandanus and Raffia are found in the south of the baï.
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Hammerkop eating a fish This species normally feeds alone or in pairs, but also feeds in large flocks sometimes. It is a generalist, although amphibians and fish form the larger part of its diet. The diet also includes shrimp, insects, and rodents. The type of food they take seems to vary by location, with clawed frogs and tadpoles being important parts of the diet in East and Southern Africa and small fish being almost the only prey taken in Mali.
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Reticulated giraffe, Grevy's zebra, white rhinoceros, common chimpanzee, spotted hyena, cheetah, marabou stork, lappet-faced vultures, Cape griffon vultures, hippopotamus, lion, rock hyrax, slender tail meerkat, serval, African crested porcupine, lowland gorilla, ankole, red river hog, warthog, hammerkop, saddle-billed stork, Stanley crane, cattle egret, dromedary camel, wolf guenon, DeBrazza's monkey, klipspringer, Madagascar ground boa, Madagascar tree boa, ostrich, African grooved frog, Lady Ross turaco, Aldabra tortoise, African wild dog, African pancake tortoise, Sudanese plated lizard, and African Slender-snouted Crocodile.
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Among certain African tribes the hammerkop is believed to be the lightning bird. Among others the lightning bird is believed to manifest itself only through lightning, except to women, to whom it reveals itself as a bird. In these instances the bird is of imaginary nature and may take several forms. In one instance a village girl described a black rooster-like bird that ran up her hoe and left claw marks on her body before it flew back to the clouds.
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Among them comb duck (Sarkidiornis melanotos, spur-winged goose (Plectropterus gambensis), white-faced whistling duck (Dendrocygna viduata), garganey (Anas querquedula), northern pintail (Anas acuta), African pygmy goose (Nettapus auritus) and the northern shoveler (Anas clypeata). The order of Ciconiiformes is represented by birds like western reef heron (Egretta gularis), little egret (Egretta garzetta), woolly-necked stork (Ciconia episcopus), hammerkop (Scopus umbretta), squacco heron (Ardeola ralloides), little bittern (Ixobrychus minutus), Goliath heron (Ardea goliath), great egret (Egretta alba, marabou (Leptoptilos crumeniferus), night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), grey heron (Ardea cinerea), cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) and the sacred ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus). With their long legs, this division of birds searches the river banks for food. The brackish water areas feature Charadriidae.
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There are also 21 species of artiodactyl present in the park including hippopotamus, bushpig, bongo, warthog, buffalo, kob, red-flanked duiker, bushbuck, waterbuck, roan antelope and oribi. Threatened mammal species include the chimpanzee (EN), white-collared mangabey (EN), ursine colobus (VU), African elephant (VU), hippopotamus (VU), giant pangolin (VU), long-tailed pangolin (VU), leopard (VU), African golden cat (VU), Buffon kob (VU), bongo (NT), western hartebeest (NT), Defassa waterbuck (NT), bay duiker (NT), yellow-backed duiker (NT), olive colobus (NT). There are over 500 species of birds, of which roughly 20% are inter-African migratory birds and another 5% palearctic migratory birds. Some prominent bird species include the Denham's bustard, yellow-casqued hornbill, brown-cheeked hornbill, hammerkop, black-winged stilt, various raptors, four of the six West African stork species and five vulture species.
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Abe Bailey is rich in biodiversity and is a very popular amongst bird watching enthusiast, it runs through Abe Bailey Nature Reserve which results in the nature reserve being well known for its world class bird watching. A prime feature of the wetland is the large flocks of african spoonbills and egyptian goose that reside in it, additionally large numbers spur-winged goose, red-knobbed coot, moorhen, purple swamphen, white-faced whistling duck, southern pochard, african black duck, african shelduck, african yellow-bill duck red-billed teal, black-winged stilt, abdim's stork, white stork, yellow-billed stork, grey heron, purple heron, goliath heron, black-headed heron, black-crowned night heron, avocet, lesser and greater flamingo, african fish eagle, osprey, black-chested snake eagle, gymnogene, pied kingfisher, malachite kingfisher, goliath kingfisher, pygmy kingfisher, brown-headed kingfisher, striped kingfisher, european bee- eater, white-fronted bee-eater, hammerkop, lilac-breasted roller and various terns, wag-tails, courses, plovers, weavers, finches and widow birds. The nature reserve's large game include black wildebeest, blesbok and burchell's zebra. Other game include steenbok, common duiker, grey rhebok, klipspringer and warthog.
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Spearmint made good progress over the winter, and Gilpin planned to prepare the colt to challenge for the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp in June, a race which had not been won by a British horse since the victory of Spearmint's maternal grandsire Minting in 1886. By spring, however, Admirable Crichton failed to make the expected progress between two and three, while Flair sustained a serious injury after winning the 1000 Guineas, leaving Spearmint as the stable's only viable Derby contender. He did not race in public before the Derby but beat Pretty Polly and the Cesarewitch winner Hammerkop in a private trial race. When the results of this "private" trial became public, Spearmint began to attract serious support in the betting markets, and his odds fell from 20/1 on 15 May to 11/2 a week later. At Epsom on 30 May, Spearmint started the 6/1 second favourite for the Derby behind Lally (on 4/1) and was ridden by the American jockey Danny Maher.
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