Pairi Daiza is a privately owned zoo and botanical garden located in Brugelette, Hainaut, Belgium. The 65-hectare (160-acre) large animal theme park is located on the site of the former Cistercian Cambron Abbey, and is home to over 7,000 animals. The name is taken from the Avestan word pairi daēza, which is the source of the Persian word paradise.
View of the park
The abbey tower and Château Beaulieu
Giant panda at Pairi Daiza
Penguins at the zoo's bay
The shoebill, also known as the whalebill, whale-headed stork, and shoe-billed stork, is a large long-legged wading bird. It derives its name from its enormous shoe-shaped bill. It has a somewhat stork-like overall form and has previously been classified with the storks in the order Ciconiiformes based on this morphology. However, genetic evidence places it with pelicans and herons in the Pelecaniformes. The adult is mainly grey while the juveniles are more brown. It lives in tropical East Africa in large swamps from South Sudan to Zambia.
Shoebill
Molecular studies have found the hamerkop to be the closest relative of the shoebill.
Shoebill
The skull