Leptoptilos crumeniferus. Pleased to meet you.

I am a frequent scavenger, and my naked head and neck are adaptations to this, as it is with the vultures that I often feed. In both cases, a feathered head would become rapidly clotted with blood and other substances when my head was inside a large corpse, and the bare head is easier to keep clean.

I am large and powerful and will eat different kinds of animals, either alive or as carrion, including small mammals, reptiles, and similar prey. My living prey includes termites, fish, locusts, grasshoppers, caterpillars, frogs, rodents, crocodile eggs and hatchlings, quelea nestlings, doves, young and adult flamingos, cormorant nestlings, and pelican chicks.

Pelican chicks are especially tasty.

I was featured prominently in Irvine Welsh's novel "Marabou Stork Nightmares."