Pfeilstorch

Common card · No. 325534

A Pfeilstorch (German for 'arrow stork', pronounced [ˈpfaɪ̯l.ˌʃtɔɐ̯ç]; plural Pfeilstörche, [-ˌʃtœɐ̯.çə]) is a white stork that is injured by an arrow or spear while wintering in Africa and returns to Europe with the projectile stuck in its body. As of 2003, about 25 Pfeilstörche have been documented in Germany. Pfeilstörche were crucial in understanding the migration of European birds. The first and most famous Pfeilstorch was a white stork found in 1822 near the German village of Klütz, at the time in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (nowadays in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). It was carrying a 75-centimetre (30 in) spear from central Africa in its neck. The specimen was subsequently stuffed and can be seen today in the zoological collection of the University of Rostock. It is therefore referred to as the Rostocker Pfeilstorch. Before migration was understood, people struggled to explain the sudden annual disappearance of birds such as the white stork and barn swallow...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Zoologische Sammlung der Universität Rostock, CC BY-SA 3.0