Knobbed hornbill

Knobbed hornbill
A pair at Walsrode Bird Park, Germany
(female in foreground)
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Bucerotiformes
Family: Bucerotidae
Genus: Aceros
Species: A. cassidix
Binomial name
Aceros cassidix
(Temminck, 1823)

[2]

The knobbed hornbill (Aceros cassidix) also known as Sulawesi wrinkled hornbill is a large black hornbill with a yellow bill, white tail feathers, pale blue skin around eye, blackish feet and bare dark blue throat. The male has rufous/buff face and neck, orange-red eyes, and a high reddish casque on the top of his bill. The female has a black face and neck, a yellow casque, and brownish eyes.

An Indonesian endemic, the knobbed hornbill is distributed in the tropical evergreen forests of Sulawesi, Buton, Lembeh, Togian and Muna Island.

Male
Male at Walsrode Bird Park

As with other hornbills, the knobbed hornbill is believed to be a monogamous species. The diet consists mainly of fruits and figs. Breeding season spans 27-30 weeks and appears to be triggered by a dramatic reduction in rainfall. The female seals itself inside a tree hole for egg-laying using its own feces. During this time, the male will provide foods for the female and the young through a slit in the seal.

The knobbed hornbill is the faunal symbol of South Sulawesi province.

Widespread and common throughout its native range, the knobbed hornbill is evaluated as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.[1]

References in popular culture

A female knobbed hornbill in a cage was the backdrop for the Mickey Rooney song "I'm So Unlucky" in the Film All Ashore. It was mislabeled "Harlique Hornbill - Africa".

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 BirdLife International (2012). "Aceros cassidix". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ↑ Kinnaird, Margaret (Jan 1999). "Breeding ecology of the Sulawesi Red-Knobbed Hornbill Aceros cassidix". ISIS 141 (1): 63. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1999.tb04263.x.

Further Reading

Kinnaird, Margaret; O'Brien, Timothy (Jan 1999). "Breeding ecology of the Sulawesi Red-knobbed Hornbill Aceros cassidix". IBIS 141 (1): 61–69. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1999.tb04263.x.

Cahill, Alexis; Walker, Jonathan (June 2000). "The effects of forest re on the nesting success of the Red-knobbed Hornbill Aceros cassidix". Bird Conservation International 10 (2): 109-114. doi:10.1017/S0959270900000101. Retrieved 30 April 2015.

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