then disturb flocks of storks so that they have no other choice than to settle near the decoy. The African openbill feed directly on the snails near the decoy which have been poisoned by the poachers. This method disproportionately affects the African openbill stork because they are a flocking species that lives year-round on the areas poisoned by the poachers. They are also preferentially poisoned because poachers can turn a greater profit from these birds. The stork isn’t currently at risk, but the continuation of this method of poaching could be detrimental to the populations. This practice continues in Kenya because of the social importance of eating wild bird meat. It has become a habit of the population as the people believe wild meat is the best available option, especially when it is not expensive. Impacts of DDT In South Africa, DDT remains in use to control malaria. This pesticide ends up in the environment and affects the local species. Studies have been carried out on the amount of DDT present in different African birds' eggs. They have found that the eggs of the African openbill had the highest means of DDT. The snails eaten by the storks live in sediments and bio-concentrate DDT because they filter the contaminated water and feed on contaminated plankton. The high amount of DDT in African openbill eggs can be explained by their consumption of highly contaminated snails. No investigation has been made yet on the impact of high DDT content in eggs. Since the effect of this high concentration of contaminants hasn't been researched yet, it is impossible to know the impact it might have on the stork population. The biggest risk is the thinning of the eggshells which would reduce the breeding success of the storks. This success being already very low, it would be dangerous for the survival of the species if it were to drop even lower. References External links African openbill African openbill African openbill African openbill Taxonomy articles created by Polbot