The shield was supported by a shoebill and a rhinoceros. Water birds are numerous and include pelicans, herons and the rare shoebill. The same size as the living shoebill, it likely ate lungfish and catfish. Mounting evidence pointed to the shoebill as a close relative of pelicans. The shoebill occurs in extensive, dense freshwater marshes. In 1978 she co-wrote the first scientific paper about the Shoebill, in Zambia. The shoebill is a large bird related to the storks. The shoebill is a large bird related to the pelicans. Recent studies have found that its closest relatives are the pelicans and shoebill. While hunting, the shoebill strides very slowly and is frequently motionless. The shoebill is attracted to poorly oxygenated waters where fish frequently surface to breathe. The shoebill is normally silent, but they perform bill-clattering displays at the nest. For example, the shoebill sometimes uses its wings to right itself after lunging at prey. Insofar, the shoebill is today recognized as the formerly missing link uniting pelicans and storks.