Rhinoceros Hornbill

Rhinoceros bird ( Buceros rhinoceros )

The rhinoceros bird ( Buceros rhinoceros ) is a species of bird in Southeast Asia and one of the largest species of the family of the hornbills. It makes a super species with the hornbill ( Buceros bicornis).

Distribution and habitat

The nominate the rhinoceros bird (B. r. Rhinoceros ) is native to Thailand and the Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra. In Borneo the subspecies B. r lives. borneoensis, Java B. r. silvestris.

The habitat is in the tropical rain forest at elevations up to 1400 m, where the rhinoceros bird because of its nesting habits primary forest, ie from the people largely untouched forest, required.

Description

The rhinoceros bird reaches a size of 80 to 90 cm and a weight of 2 to 2.9 kg. The plumage is mostly black, but often with a white underbelly and white tail base. A special feature is the large, curved beak, which is mostly white at the top and towards the head yellowish to red is. Like several other hornbill species forms the rhinoceros bird a distinctive horn-like attachment of loose bone beams. This is yellowish to reddish in general.

Males have black -bordered red or orange eyes, females stay smaller and have red-bordered white eyes.

Nutrition

The rhinoceros bird feeds mainly on fruits, but also takes insects, lizards, tree frogs and birds' eggs to be.

Reproduction

As a breeding cave serve the rhinoceros bird tree hollows at altitudes 9-15 meters. Does the female laid his one to two eggs, it closes the opening of the cave with a mixture of food, pieces of wood and dung, which is processed to a paste which hardens then. Except for a narrow gap the nesting hole is completely closed. Through this gap, the female, and after hatching, the brood are supplied by the male with food. The chicks hatch after 37 to 46 days. Only after a further 39-51 days after the young birds have fledged, the parents, the breeding cave break up again.

Inventory and risk

The rhinoceros bird requires pristine as possible primary forest habitat. As the rain forests in Southeast Asia are increasingly disappearing, especially in accessible flat land, and the area of ​​distribution of the rhinoceros bird reduced constant. In mountainous areas, however, is still sufficient primary forest exists, so that the IUCN classifies the rhinoceros bird to be low overall risk.