Endangered Species

Great Hornbill !!!

Scientific Name:Beceros Bicornis

Family:Becerotidae

Often known as Great Indian Hornbill or Great Pied Hornbill, is one of the larger members of the hornbill family. Great Hornbills are found in the forests of Nepal, India, the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, Indonesia. Their impressive size and colour have made them important in many tribal cultures and rituals. The Great Hornbill is long-lived, living for nearly 50 years in captivity. They are predominantly frugivorous although they are opportunists and will prey on small mammals, reptiles and birds.

Description:

The Great Hornbill is a large bird, 95–130 cm (37–51 in) long, with a 152 cm (60 in) wingspan and a weight of 2.15–4 kg (4.7-8.8 lbs). It is the heaviest, but not the longest, Asian hornbill. The most prominent feature of the hornbill is the bright yellow and black casque on top of its massive bill. The casque appears U-shaped when viewed from the front and the top is concave with two ridges along the sides that form points in the front, a reference to which is made in the Latin species epithet bicornis. The casque is hollow and serves no known purpose although they are believed to be the result of sexual selection. Male hornbills have been known to indulge in aerial casque butting, with birds striking each other in flight.Females are smaller than males and have bluish-white instead of red eyes although the orbital skin is pinkish. Like other hornbills, they have prominent "eyelashes". The back of the casque is reddish in females while the underside of the front and back of the casque is black in males. The male spreads the preen gland secretion which is yellow onto the primaries and bill to give them the bright yellow colour.The commissure of the beak is black and has a serrated and worn edge with age. The wing beats are heavy and the sound produced by birds in flight can be heard from a distance. The sound produced has been likened to the puffing of a steam locomotive starting up. The flight involves stiff flaps followed by glides with the fingers splayed and upcurled. They are sometimes known to fly at great height over forests.

Illustration by T. W. Wood(1823-1903) showing the eyelashes, worn bill edge and the concave casque with ridged sides

The species was formerly broken into subspecies cavatus from the Western Ghats, nominate form from the sub-Himalayan forests is sometimes named as subspecies homrai. The subspecies from Sumatra has sometimes been considered as cristatus. The variation across populations is mainly in size, with Himalayan birds being larger than the those from further south and the species is now usually considered monotypic.

Like other members of the hornbill family, they have highly pneumatized bones, with hollow air cavities extending to the tips of their wing bones. This anatomical feature was noted byRichard Owen who dissected a specimen at the Zoological Society of London that died in 1833.

Habitat & Range:

The distribution of the species is fragmented over its range in South and Southeast Asia. In South Asia they are found in a few forest areas in the Western Ghats and in the forests along the Himalayas. Their distribution extends into Thailand, Burma, Malaya and Sumatra. Their habitat is dense old growth (unlogged) forests in hilly regions. They appear to be dependent on large stretches of forest unlike many of the smaller hornbills.

In Thailand the home ranges of males was found to be about 3.7 km² during the breeding season and about 14.7 km² during the non-breeding season.

Diet(Aviculture):

In captivity hornbills eat fruits and meat and a healthy diet is made up in most part, by fruit and some source of protein. A few have been tamed in captivity but hornbill behavior in captivity is described as high-strung. Captive specimens may bask in the sun with outstretched wings.

Use as a Symbol:

The Great Hornbill is the State bird of Chin State in Myanmar, and Kerala and Arunachal in India.

A Great Hornbill by the name of William (pictured) was the model for the logo of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and the name for their building. Sir Norman Kinnear described William as follows in the obituary of W S Millard: “Every visitor to the Society's room in Apollo Street will remember the great Indian Hornbill, better known as the "office canary" which lived in a cage behind Millard's chair in Phipson & Co.'s office for 26 years and died in 1920. It is said its death was caused by swallowing a piece of wire, but in the past "William" had swallowed a lighted cigar without ill effects and I for my part think that the loss of his old friend was the principal cause."