Ground-hornbill

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iGround-hornbill
Southern Ground Hornbill(Bucorvus leadbeateri)
Southern Ground Hornbill
(Bucorvus leadbeateri)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Coraciiformes
Family: Bucerotidae
Subfamily: Bucorvinae
Genus: Bucorvus
Lesson, 1830
Species

Bucorvus leadbeateri
Bucorvus abyssinicus

The Ground-hornbills (Bucorvinae) are a subfamily of the hornbill family Bucerotidae, with a single genus Bucorvus and two extant species:

The subfamily is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa - Abyssinian Ground-hornbill being found in a belt from Senegal east to Ethiopia, with Southern Ground-hornbill occurring in the south and east of the continent.

A prehistoric ground-hornbill, Bucorvus brailloni, has been described from fossil bones.

Ground hornbills are large, with adults around a metre tall. Both species are ground-dwelling, unlike other hornbills. Some ornithologists raise the Ground-hornbills to family level on account of this and other distinctive features.