Ground hornbill
Rotwangenhornrabe ( Bucorvus leadbeateri )
Hornbills ( Bucorvus ) are a two- species widespread in Africa family of the order Bucerotiformes. They are similar, apart from the bare red and blue skin on the head, large ravens. Their plumage is predominantly black. Only with flying birds can be seen that the primaries are white. Unlike the closely related rights hornbills hornbills are good runners. Hornbills have 15 cervical vertebrae, while the real hornbills have only 14. The legs are also longer and they have a special string which extends from the pelvis to the femur.
Way of life
Hornbills lead a bodenbewohnendes life in the short grass plains and savannas. The birds can rennend move at a speed of up to 30 km / hr. Flying up to four -pound bird is not much faster.
Hornbills feed mainly on large insects and small vertebrates. Occasionally they also eat lizards, small mammals and young birds.
They live in a territorial area of about 100 square kilometers in groups of up to ten animals. Through muffled cries of the claim area is emphasized. Only one dominant pair proceeds to reproduce. Hornbills nest in rock crevices and tree cavities preferably in baobab trees. Mostly, the female lays two eggs, but only one young is reared. The breeding female is indeed fed by the male, but not immured as with the other hornbills with clay. It may also leave the breeding burrow and even go on the hunt.
Hornbills are infested with lice of the genus Burvellus spring, which is found only on them.
Although the species are not in their area of distribution as frequently, but are still classified by the IUCN as safely.
Species
- The Northern Ground Hornbill or Sudan hornbill ( Bucorvus abyssinicus ) lives in steppes and savannas south of the Sahara. The sip top is high and open at the front. The naked skin on the head in the male are blue and red, blue in the female.
- The Southern Ground Hornbill ( Bucorvus leadbeateri ), also Rotwangenhornrabe or Südhornrabe called, lives from Kenya to Angola and South Africa. The sip top is flat and short. The naked skin on the head in the male crimson, rather dark in the female and light orange when young bird. The Rotwangenhornrabe was formerly known as Kaffer hornbill ( Bucorvus cafer ).