Historically, this species was abundant in Egypt, where millions were mummified as offerings to the god Thoth. By the end of the 19th century they had completely disappeared from Egypt. This is an adult with unfeathered all black head and neck. Formerly lumped with the Black-headed Ibis ("T. melanocephalus") of India, and the Australian Ibis ("T. moluccus"), but genetic studies found they have different chromosome karyotypes making them reproductively incompatible. This is a dark-eyed species formerly lumped with light-eyed forms on Indian Ocean Islands but they are now recognized as a separate species, the Malagasy Sacred Ibis ("Threskiornis bernieri").
