page_title: Greater adjutant
section_title: In culture
hierarchical_section_title: Greater adjutant / In culture
context_page_description: The greater adjutant is a member of the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its genus includes the lesser adjutant of Asia and the marabou stork of Africa. Once found widely across southern Asia, mainly in India but extending east to Borneo, the greater adjutant is now restricted to a much smaller range with only three breeding populations; two in India, with the largest colony in Assam, a smaller one around Bhagalpur; and another breeding population in Cambodia. They disperse widely after the breeding season. This large stork has a massive wedge-shaped bill, a bare head and a distinctive neck pouch. During the day, it soars in thermals along with vultures with whom it shares the habit of scavenging. They feed mainly on carrion and offal; however, they are opportunistic and will sometimes prey on vertebrates. The English name is derived from their stiff "military" gait when walking on the ground. Large numbers once lived in Asia, but they have declined to the point of endangerment. The total population in 2008 was estimated at around a thousand individuals.
context_section_description: Aelian described the bird in 250 AD in his De Natura Animalium as the kilas (κηλας), a large bird from India with a crop that looks like a leather bag. Babur described it in his memoirs under the name of ding. In Victorian times the greater adjutant was known as the gigantic crane and later as the Asiatic marabou. It was very common in Calcutta during the rainy season and large numbers could be seen at garbage sites and also standing on the top of buildings. In Bihar, the bird is associated with the mythical bird garuda. Its name hargila in Bengal and Assam is said to be derived from the Sanskrit roots had for "bone" and gila - "to swallow"- and describes the bird as a "bone swallower". John Latham used the Latinized form as the species epithet in the binomial name, Ardea argala. At that time it was believed that the birds were protected by the souls of dead Brahmins. Young British soldiers were known to harass these birds for fun, even blowing up birds by feeding them meat containing bones packed with a cartridge and fuse. The birds would remain calm when natives passed by but would bark in alarm at those in European clothes. The birds in Calcutta were considered to be efficient scavengers and an act was passed to protect them. Anyone who injured or killed a bird had to pay a hefty fine of fifty rupees. The coat of arms of the city of Calcutta issued through two patents on 26 December 1896 included two adjutant birds with serpents in their beaks and charged on their shoulder with an Eastern Crown as supporters. The motto read "Per ardua stabilis esto", Latin for "steadfast through trouble". The arms were included in the logo of official bodies such as the Calcutta Municipal Corporation and the Calcutta Scottish regiment. Captured birds, probably from Calcutta, reached menageries in Europe during this period.
  The undertail covert feathers taken from adjutant were exported to London during the height of the plume trade under the name of Commercolly (or Kumarkhali, now in Bangladesh) or "marabout". Since the birds were protected by law, plume collectors would ambush the birds roosting atop buildings, grabbing their undertail feathers which would come off when the birds took to flight. Along with egret plumes, these were the most valuable of feather exports. Specimens of tippets, victorines and boas made from these feathers were displayed at the Great Exhibition of 1851.
  An Indian myth recorded by the Moghul emperor Babur was that a magic "snake-stone" existed inside the skull of the bird, being an antidote for all snake venoms and poisons. This "stone" was supposed to be extremely rare as it could only be obtained by a hunter with great skill, for the bird had to be killed without letting its bill touch the ground since that would make the "stone" evaporate instantly. Folk-medicine practitioners believed that a piece of stork flesh chewed daily with betel could cure leprosy.
  The English artist Henry Stacy Marks (1829-1888) took a special interest in birds. Many of his paintings were based on birds in the London Zoo with several depicting greater adjutants including Convocation (1878), Science is Measurement (1879), Half hours at the Zoo, and An Episcopal Visitation.
caption: Science is Measurement (1879) by Henry Stacy Marks
exif: {}