The rest of the carnivores are found in the open county. Few species of the omnivore hornbill animals feed only on fruits and are found in forests. They are omnivorous animals, welling on fruits, small animals, and insects. So, they jerk their head backwards and the food tosses to the throat. Hornbills have a short tongue so they cannot swallow their food caught at the beak tip. At the roosting sites, large assemblies of hornbills are formed where around 2400 individuals may be found. Outside the breeding season, they roam in large flocks. Hornbills generally travel in small family groups or pairs. Almost in all hornbill species except the two ground hornbills, Bucorvus, the male covers the nest leaving a small hole. Hornbills make their nests in cavities, especially in that of large trees. This allows them to see the tip of their bill and helps in handling objects with their bill. Hornbills have binocular vision but, unlike others, their bill interferes with their visual field. These birds are non-nocturnal, that is, they remain active in the daytime. The large bill helps them in fighting, constructing the nest, preening, and catching the prey. This special adaptation of the neck is found only in these birds. The weight of the bill is held by the first two neck vertebrae which are fused. It is filled with hornbill ivory which helps in dramatic aerial combats. In the case of the helmeted hornbill, the casque is not empty. The casque is composed of keratin, the protein by which our hair and nails are made of. The purpose of the casque is not known yet. The horn-like casque on the upper of their beak is either filled with some spongy material or is hollow. The beaks of the hornbill bird are curved downwards. Such species include the Abyssinian ground hornbill, the great hornbill, and the longest of all, the helmeted hornbill which is more than 4 ft 11 in. Other species compete for the southern ground hornbill in length at up to 4 ft 3 in. This is the largest hornbill among all its species. 77 kg, with a maximum weight of 6.3 kg and a span of around 180 cm across the wings. The southern ground hornbill has an average weight of. The black dwarf hornbill is the smallest in the species with a weight of 99.1 g and a length of 32 cm. ![]() The body mass of the males and females differ by 1% to 17%, their bill length varies from 8% to 30% and the wing length differs between the two sexes by 1% to 21%. The size, weight, and wingspan of the male hornbills are larger than that of the female ones. In the era of Neogene, or the late Miocene, it was found that hornbills inhabited South Europe and North Africa and their remains have been found in Bulgaria and Morocco. In Sri Lanka also, one of the many species of hornbill is found. Even in India and near it, we find 9 species of hornbill birds. In Thailand, 9 of these species are found. Indonesia has around 13 hornbill species, with Sumatra accounting for 9 of them, and the rest are found in Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Papua, and Sumba. One of the hornbill species is found in the open grasslands of Asia, while the rest dwell in the forests there. About 13 of those species are found in grasslands or open woodlands, while others are found in very dry areas or thick forests. In Africa, around 24 species of hornbill can be found. They are also found in the Solomon Islands and the Philippines. Hornbills are found in tropical and sub-tropical Africa, Melanesia, Asia, and parts of the Pacific islands. ![]() The family of Bucerotidae has around 55 living species. The picture of hornbill bird is shown below. When the beak and the casque rub against this gland, an oily, reddish-orange fluid is secreted which gives the beak and casque a bright, reddish tone. Several hornbill species like the Rhinoceros hornbills have the preen gland near the base of their tail. The Tockus species is generally smaller in size than that of the great hornbills. The size of hornbills ranges approximately from 16 inches (i.e., 40 cm) to 63 inches (i.e., 160 cm). The plumage is usually black or brown, having bold white markings. Their wings are broad and their tails are long. ![]() They are found to have a large head that is held by a thin neck. They are specifically noted for their characteristic feature of a bony casque which is crowned on their prominent bill. The scientific name of hornbill is ‘Bucerotidae’, which means ‘cow horn’ in Greek. Hornbill is a bird species and falls under any of the sixty species of the Old-World tropical birds of order Coraciiformes.
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