35 цікавих та інколи приголомшливих фактів про лелек

Storks are large birds. The largest species in the genus Ciconia is the white stork. The body length of both males and females is 110 cm, the wingspan reaches 220 cm, and the weight is 3.6 kg. One of the smaller species, the white-bellied stork, weighs about 1 kg, and its body length is 73 cm. The beak of a stork is long, 2-3 times the length of the head, and has a conical shape. It can be straight or slightly bent upwards (like the Far Eastern stork). At the base it is high and massive, at the end it is sharp, closed tightly. The tongue is smooth, sharp and, compared to the beak, small. The nostrils are very narrow, open directly in the cornea, without depressions and furrows. The color of the beak in adults of most species is red. In the black-billed stork it is black. In young birds, it is the opposite: black-billed stork chicks have red or orange beaks, while chicks of other species have black beaks.