Greater Adjutant - Taxonomy and Systematics

Taxonomy and Systematics

John Latham wrote about the bird found in Calcutta based on descriptions in Ives's "Voyage to India" published in 1773 and included an illustration in the first supplement to his "General Synopsis of Birds". The illustration was based on a drawing in Lady Impey's collection and Latham called it the Gigantic Crane and included observations by an African traveller named Smeathman who described a similar bird from western Africa. Johann Friedrich Gmelin used Latham's description and described the Indian bird as Ardea dubia in 1789 while Latham later used the name Ardea argala for the Indian bird. Temminck used the name Ciconia marabou in 1824 based on the local name used in Senegal for the African bird and this was also applied to the Indian species. This led to considerable confusion between the African and Indian species. The Marabou Stork of Africa looks somewhat similar but their disjunct distribution ranges, differences in bill structure, plumage, and display behaviour support their treatment as separate species.

Most storks fly with their neck outstretched, but the three Leptoptilos species retract their neck in flight as herons do, possibly due to the heavy bill. When walking on the ground, it has a stiff marching gait from which the name "adjutant" is derived.