THE WALDRAPP A SPECIAL CONNECTION BETWEEN

EGYPT AND AUSTRIA

JI JANK, PRAGUE
It is well attested that three different species of the Ibis bird lived in ancient
Egypt, namely the glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), the northern bald Ibis
(Geronticus eremita) and the sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus).
1
The last one
mentioned is usually considered to have been the most important for the ancient
Egyptians. Though it is true that the sacred Ibis was held sacred, mummified and
buried, there are some aspects of Egyptian religion and several ideological con-
ceptions where the northern bald Ibis is much more significant.
A depiction of a northern bald Ibis, also known as the Waldrapp, was used for
the hieroglyphic sign of akh. One of the cardinal meanings of the term was
a divine manifestation of the dead in the afterlife (often translated as the spirit
or blessed dead). It represented a mighty and mysterious entity that was part of
the divine world and yet still had some influence upon the world of the living.
The akh could visit the living or interact with them. According to some texts
(especially the Pyramid texts), the akhu were born in and come from the akhet
(horizon). The horizon was considered to be a place, or area, in the midst of
three cosmic spheres, the earth, the sky and the duat, where the sun is born and
rises into the sky at the dawn of the new day. Thus, the akhet was the place of
resurrection and transfiguration. The term was originally linked to the eastern
horizon, but later also to the western one. The akhet was a place of light, resurrec-
tion and mysterious activity of the sun.
2
129
1
Cf. Houlihan, P. F. (1988) The Birds of Ancient Egypt. Cairo, American University in
Cairo Press, 2632.
2
For the various notions of akh and akhet, see Allen, J. P. (1989) The Cosmology of the
Pyramid Texts. In Simpson, W. K. (ed.) Religion and Philosophy in Ancient Egypt, 128. New
Haven, Yale University Press [Yale Egyptological Studies 3]; Bonnet, H. (1952) Reallexikon
der gyptischen Religionsgeschichte. Berlin, De Gruyter, 4; Englund, G. (1978) Akh une notion
religieuse dans lEgypte pharaon, Uppsala, Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, BOREAS [Uppsala
Studies in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Civilizations 11]; Leprohon, R. J. (1994)
Gatekeepers of This and the Other World. Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian
Antiquities 24, 7791; Loprieno, A. (2003) Drei Leben nach dem Tod: wieviele Seelen
hatten die alten gypter. In Guksch, H. and Hofmann, E. and Bommas, M. (eds.) Grab
und Totenkult im Alten gypten, 200225. Mnchen, Hamburgisches Museum fr
Vlkerkunde; Friedman, F. D. (2002) Akhs. In Redford, D. B. (ed.), The Ancient Gods Speak:
A Guide to Egyptian Religion, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 79; Jansen-Winkeln, K. (1996)
Horizont und Verklrtheit: Zur Bedeutung der Wurzel )N. SAK 23, 201215.
kn-sbor-III.qxd 6.2.1980 09:18 Strnka 129
The northern bald Ibis (Waldrapp, Geronticus eremita: size: 7080 cm; weight:
1,3 kg; wingspan: 125135 cm; longevity: 25 years) is a gregarious bird: it nests in
colonies, and pairs stay together for their entire life. These Ibises even share the
care of the eggs and the juveniles. They have a reddish head, long curved red bill
and red legs, with the typical dark crest covering the back of its head. The main
colour of the waldrapp is black, with iridescent tints of blue, green and copper in
sunlight. There is a purple and green shoulder patch on the wings of the bird,
and it is this mark that was seen as a link to the idea of light.
3
The Waldrapp lives in
an arid or semi-arid environment, with cliffs for breeding and nesting, and usually
in the proximity of human settlement. These birds feed during the day in adjacent
dry fields and along rivers or streams by pecking on the ground. Thus they need
areas with short vegetation (arid, but preferably cultivated places), where they can
find the worms, insects, lizards and other small animals on which they feed. During
the night, these Ibises stay together in the roosting and breeding places. By day
they spread throughout the region in search of food, although one of the couple
stays in the nest with the eggs. When the birds wake up, or when they come
together at sunset, this is always marked by high activity, with lots of greeting and
aggressive behaviour. Waldrapps have a spectacular greeting display. It is a sequence
of moves that starts with raising the head and bill up, and is finished by a deep
lowering of the head. The crest is erect during this performance. The fact that
Waldrapps are migratory birds is also very important. They spend about 4 months in
a breeding area, which is the time needed to lay eggs and raise the offspring. Then
the birds travel to a wintering region in the V-formation, a journey that can take
a month, or even longer, because they make many stops of one or two days. The
wintering period lasts between 5 and 6 months. The northern bald ibises are
friendly to humans, and have been found in North Africa and Ethiopia, the Middle-
East, and throughout Central Europe. But only a few colonies survive in the world
today, totalling in all not more than about 400 birds. Some of them nest in the Souss
Massa Park in Morocco, a few breed in Central Syria, and several Waldrapps are kept
in ZOOs and raised in special projects (especially in Austria). The Waldrapp ranks
among the critically endangered species and is on the Red List.
4
130
3
Several scholars doubt about the primary connection between akhu and the idea of
light, for example Allen (1989), Jansen-Winkeln (1996) and Loprieno (2003).
4
For details on the waldrapp, see Houlihan (1988); Fritz, J. (2004) Return from Noahs
arch. Establishing a migratory waldrapp colony by introducing a new migration route with ultralight
planes http://www.waldrappteam.at/Downloads/publication.pdf; Fritz, J., Riedler, B. and
Bichler, M. (2005) Nahrungskologie des Waldrapps in einem Sommerhabitat in Burghausen,
Bayern: Abschlussbericht Projekt Burghausen 2005 http://www.waldrappteam.at/Downloads/
burghausen05.pdf; Keimer, L. (1954) Interprtation de plusieurs reprsentations an-
ciennes dibis. Chronique dEgypte 29, 237250; Kumerloeve, H. (1983) Zur Kenntnis altgypti-
scher Ibis-Darstellungen unter besonderer Bercksichtigung des Waldrapps, Geronticus
eremita (Linnaeus, 1758). Bonner Zoologische Beitrge 34, 197234; Serra, G., Williamson, D. and
Batello, C. (2003) From Indifference to Awareness. Encountering Biodiversity in the Semi-Arid
Rangelands of the Syrian Arab Republic. Rome, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the
United Nations.
kn-sbor-III.qxd 6.2.1980 09:18 Strnka 130
For at least 200 years, a Waldrapp colony was located in a small Turkish town
called Birecik (ancient Birtha), on the east bank of the Euphrates. The nearby
landscape is very similar to Egypt with limestone cliffs on both sides of the river.
The Waldrapp colony used to breed on the eastern bank, near to the town, from
February/March to July. The arrival of these birds (locally know as kelaynak) was
celebrated as a sign of the coming of the spring. Some observers even state that
the bird was considered semi-sacred in Birecik. It was a symbol for the spring and
life, transmigrating souls, the end of the Biblical flood and the pilgrimage to
Mekka. Unfortunately, the colony is now extinct.
5
In ancient times Egypt was probably a breeding area for the Waldrapps who
migrated there once a year. The birds would have arrived in Egypt in February or
probably March, with the rising temperatures, and stayed there until July before
migrating southwards, along the Nile, towards Ethiopia. If this was indeed the
case, then they would have left just before the Nile inundation arrived. The arriv-
al of the Waldrapps could have been seen as a sign of the coming spring or the
harvest season, as was the case at Birecik. In Egypt, the birds nested on rocks and
cliffs, probably to the east of the Nile. This was both the symbolic and the real
horizon, the region of akhet. Every morning, half of the colony flew to the Nile in
search for food descending on the fields, the settlements and possibly the ceme-
teries. In the evening, the birds flocked together and returned to the horizon.
The Waldrapps disappeared in July, just before the inundation came and the
beginning of a new year. There are further aspects of the Waldrapp that could
have been important for the Egyptians as, for example, glittering colours on its
wings, its strange calling, or the greeting dance. Though the Egyptians did not
hold the northern bald Ibises sacred, there could have been a kind of taboo on
them. There is no evidence for keeping, hunting, killing, mummifying or sacrifi-
cing the Waldrapp, the akh-birds in ancient Egypt. They could have been viewed
as visitors and messengers from the other world, manifestations of the blessed
dead (akhu).
6
In the European region, the northern bald Ibis was officially reported in the
Alps by Plinius in 86 AD. From the 4
th
to the 17
th
Centuries, the bird lived in the
Balkans, Italy, Switzerland, South Germany and Austria. There are many other
names that were used for the Waldrapp in Germany, for example Brachvogel,
Wiedehopf, Sichler, Rabe, Klausrapp, Steinrapp, Alpenkrhe, Bergeinsiedler,
Nachtrabe, Scheller, Schweizereinsiedler, Glckner, and Meerrapp. It was named
Corvus sylvaticus by Konrad Gesner from Zurich in 1555 and obtained its last offi-
cial name (Geronticus eremita) in the year 1758 by Linnaeus. In Austria (or former
Austrian Empire), the protection of Waldrapps has a long tradition. Several legal
131
5
Cf. Kumerloeve, H. (1962) Zur Geschichte der Waldrapp-Kolonie in Birecik am oberen
Euphrat. Journal fr Ornithologie 103, 389398; Serra et al. (2003); Lawton, J. (1989) Last of
the Mohicans. Saudi Aramco World 4/ 40, 25.
6
Cf. Jank, J. (2007) Migratory Spirits. In Cannata, M., Adams, Ch. and Hardwick, T. (eds.)
Current Research in Egyptology VII, Oxford, Oxbow, 2007, 116119.
kn-sbor-III.qxd 6.2.1980 09:18 Strnka 131
warnings, decrees or regulations considering the protection of the bird are at-
tested for the 16
th
and 17
th
centuries. King Maxmilian I gave a legal warning not
to pick nests and kill the Waldrapps (1504), King Ferdinand issued a decree to
protect these birds at Schlossberg (1528). A similar decree was issued also in
Salzburg by the Duke Mattheus in 1530 and protection of Waldrapps was mention-
ed in Austrian Fishing regulations in 1621. However, the bird was endangered by
war, hunting and picking (Waldrapp juveniles were served as a delicacy) and
became extinct in Central Europe in the middle of the 17
th
Century.
7
However Austrian ornithologists and ethnologists now run several Waldrapp
breeding stations and protective projects that endeavour to save the endangered
bird.
8
One of them is very specific the Waldrapp team
9
plays a significant role in
the birds reintegration into the free nature and re-learning its migratory habits.
The aim of the project, founded and led by Johannes Fritz, is to raise Waldrapps
from their hatching, to take care of them and to teach them how to be indepen-
dent and migrate. Johannes Fritz uses an ultra-light airplane to accompany and
vector a flock of Ibises across the Alps to their wintering region in the WWF natu-
re reserve Laguna di Orbetello in Southern Tuscany. The birds, led by their
human guide, migrated to Tuscany for three times (2004, 2005, and 2006).
In two previous cases, the Waldrapps were travelling long distances towards
Austria at the time of migration but the team still awaits their successful return.
10
Thus, it is hoped that after such training the birds could accomplish their first
return in spring 2007.
The preservation of the Waldrapp in its natural environment and with its origi-
nal habits would also be a help to Egyptology. Because if we want to grasp the
meanings of Egyptian conceptions and notions connected with the root of akh,
we have first to get to know the bird very well.
132
7
For detail see the web pages of the Waldrapp Projekt (http://www.waldrapp.at/
?page=geschichte) and of the Waldrapp Team (www.waldrappteam.at).
8
Alpenzoo Innsbruck (www.alpenzoo.at), Waldrapp Projekt Weidhoefen/Thaya
(www.waldrapp.at) and Konrad Lorenz Research Station in Grnau (http://www.univie.
ac.at/zoology/nbs/gruenau/index.html).
9
Waldrapp Team, Mutters (www.waldrappteam.at).
10
For more information, see www.waldrappteam.at.
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