The shoebill is a fish eater.
As a small fry, it lives near the surface, eating plankton, but as it gets larger it descends to deeper waters, becoming a fish eater.
On a Saturday evening not long ago, after a woman at a nearby table admitted that if not for the omega-3s she wouldn't be a fish eater, it was decided that the meal should be treated as an equation of net health gains: fish oil versus methylmercury, unsaturated fatty acids versus butter and lard.
While it had been suggested previously that, owing to the presence of conical rather than serrated teeth, this animal was a fish eater, an analysis of partial stomach contents in one specimen showed a combination of fish scales and dinosaur and pterosaur remains.
Although principally a fish eater, the Australian pelican is also an eclectic and opportunistic scavenger and carnivore that forages in landfill sites as well as taking carrion and "anything from insects and small crustaceans to ducks and small dogs".
