Pelican

23rd November 2023

Great White Pelicans, St James’s Park, London

To his good friends thus wide I’ll ope my arms

And, like the kind life-rend’ring Pelican,

Repast them with my blood.

LAERTES: Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5

Shakespeare uses this image of the Pelican three times in his works, Hamlet, King Lear and Richard II. The life giving Pelican is a reference to a legend in the Physiologus and in Medieval Bestiaries that the Pelican kills its young and then after 3 days pierces its own breast to bring them back to life with its blood. The Pelican in Her Piety was a popular metaphor in writing and the decorative arts in the medieval and early modern period. There is no reference to this aspect of the Pelican in the texts of the Bible but it became part of Catholic symbolic tradition.

There are 8 species of Pelican around the world, 3 of which are Near Threatened. The Danube Delta UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Romania is one of the best places to see Pelicans in the wild in Europe. The Pelicans in St James’s Park London are Great White Pelicans (Pelecanus onocrotalus), and were introduced to London by a Russian ambassador in 1664 (almost 50 years after Shakespeare’s death).

More Information

Birdlife International Datazone: Search Pelicans

Danube Delta UNESCO Biosphere Reserve: Visit Site

Royal Parks: Pelicans of St James’s Park