Editing Secretarybird (section)

== Relationship with humans ==

=== Cultural significance ===
The secretarybird is depicted on an [[Gebel el-Arak Knife#Similar knives|ivory knife handle]] recovered from Abu Zaidan in [[Upper Egypt]], dating to the [[Naqada III]] culture (c. 3,200&nbsp;BC).<ref>{{cite book |last=Churcher |first=C. S. |year=1984 |chapter=A zoological study of the ivory knife handle from Abu Zaidan |editor=Needler, Winifred |title=Predynastic and Archaic Egypt in the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn |publisher=The Brooklyn Museum |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015038033513&view=1up&seq=156 |pages=154–155 |isbn=978-0-87273-099-1 |archive-date=7 October 2022 |access-date=8 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007084210/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015038033513&view=1up&seq=156 |url-status=live }}</ref> This and other knife handles indicate the secretarybird most likely occurred historically further north along the Nile.<ref name=kinzelbach/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Braulinska |first=Kamila |date=December 2018 |title=The secretarybird dilemma: identifying a bird species from the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari [In] Z. E. Szafrański (Ed.), Deir el-Bahari Studies 2. Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 27/2, pp. 83–116. Warsaw: University of Warsaw Press |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337852334}}</ref> 
[[File:Emblem of Sudan.svg|thumb|right|upright|Secretarybird depicted as the [[Emblem of Sudan]]|alt=stylized line drawing of bird with outstretched wings]]
The secretarybird has traditionally been admired in Africa for its striking appearance and ability to deal with pests and snakes.  As such it has often not been disturbed, although this is changing as traditional observances have declined.<ref name=hbwfamily /> It is a prominent feature on the [[coat of arms of South Africa]], which was adopted in 2000.<ref>{{cite web |title=The National Symbols |url=https://www.westerncape.gov.za/text/2016/April/national_symbols_poster_english.pdf |website=Western Cape Government |access-date=23 December 2019 |archive-date=2 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210702091629/https://www.westerncape.gov.za/text/2016/April/national_symbols_poster_english.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> With its wings outstretched, it represents growth, and its penchant for killing snakes is symbolic as the protector of the South African state against enemies.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00059688 |title=Archaeology and symbolism in the new South African coat of arms |year=2000 |last1=Smith |first1=Benjamin |last2=Lewis-Williams |first2=J. D. |last3=Blundell |first3=Geoffrey |last4=Chippindale |first4=Christopher |journal=Antiquity |volume=74 |issue=285 |pages=467–468 |s2cid=162034040}}</ref> It is on the [[emblem of Sudan]], adopted in 1969. It is featured on the Sudanese presidential flag and presidential seal.<ref name=banknotes>{{cite book |last1=Ali |first1=Bushra |title=Encyclopedia of Sudan Banknotes 1856–2012 |date=2013 |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=978-1-300-92058-8 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxgVBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA43}}</ref><!-- cites previpous 2 sentences --> The secretarybird has been a common [[Motif (visual arts)|motif]] for African countries on postage stamps: over a hundred stamps from 37 issuers are known, including some from [[List of entities that have issued postage stamps (A–E)|stamp-issuing entities]] such as [[Ajman]], [[Manama]], and the Maldives, regions where the bird does not exist, as well as the United Nations.<ref name=stamps>{{cite web |last=Scharning |first=Kjell |title=Secretary Bird ''Sagittarius serpentarius'' |work=Theme Birds on Stamps |url=http://www.birdtheme.org/scripts/family.php?famnum=76 |access-date=23 April 2020 |archive-date=15 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615092817/http://www.birdtheme.org/scripts/family.php?famnum=76 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Maasai people]] call it ''ol-enbai nabo'', or "one arrow", referring to its crest feathers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Galaty |first1=John G. |title=The Maasai ornithorium: tropic flights of avian imagination in Africa |journal=Ethnology |date=1998 |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=227–238 |doi=10.2307/3774014 |jstor=3774014}}</ref> They have used parts of the bird in traditional medicine: its feathers could be burnt and the resulting smoke inhaled to treat epilepsy, its egg could be consumed with tea twice daily to treat headaches, and its fat could be boiled and drunk for child growth or livestock health.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=John |last1=Kioko |first2=Delaney |last2=Smith |first3=Christian |last3=Kiffner |title=Uses of birds for ethno medicine among the Maasai people in Monduli District, Northern Tanzania |journal=International Journal of Ethnobiology & Ethnomedicine |date=2015 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=1–13 |url=http://advancejournals.org/International-journal-of-ethnobiology-and-ethnomedicine/article/uses-of-birds-for-ethno-medicine-among-the-maasai-people-in-monduli-district-northern-tanzania/ |issn=2394-0891 |access-date=7 April 2020 |archive-date=7 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407051531/http://advancejournals.org/International-journal-of-ethnobiology-and-ethnomedicine/article/uses-of-birds-for-ethno-medicine-among-the-maasai-people-in-monduli-district-northern-tanzania/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{pred |date=July 2024}} The [[Xhosa people]] call the bird ''inxhanxhosi'' and attribute great intelligence to it in folklore.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/cameosfromkraalw00wateiala/page/55/mode/1up/ |pages=55–56 |last=Waters |first=M. W. |title=Cameos from the Kraal |year=1926 |location=Alice, South Africa |publisher=Lovedale Institution Press}}</ref> The [[Zulu people|Zulus]] call it ''intungunono''.<ref>{{cite book |page=403 |url=https://archive.org/details/birdsofsouthafri03star/page/403/mode/1up/ |title=The Birds of South Africa. Volume III. Picarians, Parrots, Owls and Hawks. |author=Sclater, W. L. |publisher=R. H. Porter |place=London |year=1903}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/BirdLoreEasternCape/page/n27/mode/1up/ |title=Bird-lore of the Eastern Cape Province. Bantu Studies. Monograph Series No. 2 |last=Godfrey |first=Robert |year=1941 |place=Johannesburg |publisher=Witwatersrand University Press |page=22}}</ref>

The German biologist Ragnar Kinzelbach proposed in 2008 that the secretarybird was recorded in the 13th-century work ''[[De arte venandi cum avibus]]'' by Holy Roman Emperor [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]]. Described as ''bistarda deserti'', it was mistaken for a [[bustard]]. Frederick most likely gained knowledge of the bird from sources in Egypt. The 16th-century French priest and traveller [[André Thevet]] also wrote a description of a mysterious bird in 1558 that has been likened by Kinzelbach to this species.<ref name=kinzelbach>{{cite journal |last1=Kinzelbach |first1=Ragnar K. |title=Pre-Linnaean pictures of the secretarybird, ''Sagittarius serpentarius'' (J. F. Miller, 1779) |journal=Archives of Natural History |date=2008 |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=243–251 |doi=10.3366/E0260954108000375 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/250230337}}</ref><!-- cites para -->

=== Threats and conservation ===
In 1968 the species became protected under the [[African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Bowman, Michael |author2=Davies, Peter |author3=Redgwell, Catherine |year=2010 |title=Lyster's International Wildlife Law |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |page=262 |isbn=9781139494953}}</ref> The [[International Union for Conservation of Nature]] (IUCN) listed the secretarybird in 2016 as a [[vulnerable species]] and as [[endangered]] in 2020, due to a recent rapid decline across its entire range.<ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021" /> Although widespread, the species is thinly distributed across its range; its population has been estimated in 2016 to be anywhere between 6,700 and 67,000 individuals.<ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021" /> Long term monitoring across South Africa between 1987 and 2013 has shown that populations have declined across the country, even in protected areas such as [[Kruger National Park]] due to [[woody plant encroachment]], an increase in the tall vegetation cover,<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0096772 |title=Secretarybird ''Sagittarius serpentarius'' Population Trends and Ecology: Insights from South African Citizen Science Data |year=2014 |last1=Hofmeyr |first1=Sally D. |last2=Symes |first2=Craig T. |last3=Underhill |first3=Leslie G. |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=9 |issue=5 |pages=e96772 |pmid=24816839 |pmc=4016007 |bibcode=2014PLoSO...996772H |doi-access=free}}</ref> resulting in loss of open habitat that the species prefers.<ref name=hofmeyr14>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0096772 |title=Secretarybird ''Sagittarius serpentarius'' Population Trends and Ecology: Insights from South African Citizen Science Data |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=9 |issue=5 |pages=e96772 |year=2014 |last1=Hofmeyr |first1=Sally D. |last2=Symes |first2=Craig T. |last3=Underhill |first3=Leslie G. |pmid=24816839 |pmc=4016007 |bibcode=2014PLoSO...996772H |doi-access=free}}</ref>

As a population, the secretarybird is mainly threatened by loss of habitat due to fragmentation by roads and development and overgrazing of grasslands by livestock.<ref name="Allan">{{cite journal |last1=Allan |first1=D. G. |last2=Harrison |first2=J. A. |last3=Navarro |first3=R. A. |last4=van Wilgen |first4=B. W. |last5=Thompson |first5=M. W. |year=1997 |title=The impact of commercial afforestation on bird population in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa – Insights from Bird-Atlas Data |journal=[[Biological Conservation (journal)|Biological Conservation]] |volume=79 |issue=2–3 |pages=173–185 |doi=10.1016/s0006-3207(96)00098-5 |bibcode=1997BCons..79..173A |citeseerx=10.1.1.625.4717}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first1=Bernard |last1=Amakobe |first2=Kariuki |last2=Ndang'ang'a |first3=Mwangi |last3=Githiru |first4=Claudia |last4=Gray |first5=Nisha |last5=Owen |first6=Olivia |last6=Couchman |year=2019 |title=A survival blueprint for the Secretarybird, ''Sagittarius serpentarius'', an output from Wildlife Works, Kenya and an EDGE of Existence fellowship |publisher=Zoological Society of London |url=https://www.edgeofexistence.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Survival_blueprint_Secretarybird_2019.pdf |access-date=8 April 2020 |archive-date=16 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616125329/https://www.edgeofexistence.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Survival_blueprint_Secretarybird_2019.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Some adaptation to altered areas has been recorded, but overall numbers are declining.<ref name=hofmeyr14/>

=== In captivity ===
[[File:Secretarybird-incage-uenozoo2009.ogv|thumb|thumbtime=1|Secretarybird in captivity]]

The first successful rearing of a secretarybird in captivity occurred in 1986 at the [[Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden|Oklahoma City Zoo]]. Although secretarybirds normally build their nests in the trees in the wild, the captive birds at the zoo built theirs on the ground, which left them open to depredation by local wild mammals. To address this problem, the zoo staff removed the eggs from the nest each time they were laid so that they could be incubated and hatched at a safer location.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Todd |first=William T. |title=Hand-rearing the secretary bird ''Sagitarius serpentarius'' at Oklahoma City Zoo |journal=International Zoo Yearbook |volume=27 |issue=1 |year=1988 |pages=258–263 |doi=10.1111/j.1748-1090.1988.tb03220.x}}</ref> The species has also been bred and reared in captivity at the [[San Diego Zoo Safari Park]].<ref name=sandiegozoo>{{Cite web |url=http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/secretary-bird |title=Secretary Bird {{!}} San Diego Zoo Animals & Plants |website=animals.sandiegozoo.org |access-date=18 November 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141119184114/http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/secretary-bird |archive-date=19 November 2014}}</ref>

In June 2024, a secretarybird chick was successfully hatched at [[Longleat Safari and Adventure Park|Longleat Safari Park]] in Wiltshire, born to parents Janine and Kevin, who have lived at the park since 2018. The chick’s sex is not yet known, and keepers are providing smaller food items for the protective parents. This successful hatch is seen as a promising step towards establishing a new breeding program for the species at the park.<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 June 2024 |title=Endangered secretary bird born at Longleat Safari Park |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqe6r787pneo |access-date=22 August 2024 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB |archive-date=22 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822001455/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqe6r787pneo |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.longleat.co.uk/news/a-new-hatchling |access-date=22 August 2024 |title=A New Hatchling |website=www.longleat.co.uk |archive-date=22 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822001453/https://www.longleat.co.uk/news/a-new-hatchling |url-status=live }}</ref>