Thread by @NatureIn_Focus

Large charismatic birds with disproportionately large beaks and distinctive calls, #hornbills are the #farmers of our #forests. Today’s #WildAboutFacts series focuses on these feathered foresters.

Join us & share your hornbill images!

Rufous-necked Hornbills
📷Sarbajit Ghosh

#WildAboutFacts

There are 62 #hornbill species in the world, with 32 in #Asia and 30 in #Africa.

#India is home to 9 of them including the #GreatHornbill, the #MalabarPiedHornbill and the #RufousNeckedHornbill.

Malabar Pied Hornbill
📷 @samyak15

#WildAboutFacts

Several #hornbill species have a distinct #casque on their upper mandible. #GreatHornbills have a prominent #yellow and #black casque.

📷 Keya Das

#WildAboutFacts

Mainly found in the #forests of the #WesternGhats and the #Himalayas, the #GreatHornbill or the Great Pied Hornbill is the largest among the #hornbills present in #India.

📷 Sandipan Ghosh

#WildAboutFacts

#GreatHornbills are mainly #frugivores, although they also feed on small #mammals and #birds. Here is a #hornbill tossing up a #JungleOwlet to eat and regurgitate later for its chick.

📷 Mainak Ray

#WildAboutFacts

#MalabarPiedHornbills are endemic to evergreen #forests in #India and #SriLanka. Did you know that they feed on the fruits of Strychnos nux-vomica, which are toxic for many #vertebrates? Here’s one from #Dandeli, feeding on a #ficus fruit.

📷 Amit Chavan

#WildAboutFacts

The #RufousNeckedHornbill is found in the north eastern part of #India, especially in #ArunachalPradesh. They have also been spotted in the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, #WestBengal.

📷 Sarbajit Ghosh

#WildAboutFacts

The #NarcondamHornbill is only found in a 12 square kilometre stretch in the evergreen #forest of the Narcondam #Island, #Andamans, and nowhere else in the world. Here’s one, feeding on #Ficus rumphii.

📷 Ranjan Bankhele

#WildAboutFacts

Meet the #IndianGreyHornbill, which is the most commonly seen #hornbill species in #India. The medium-sized bird is sometimes spotted in parts of #cities where there are old trees.

📷 Gopi Krishnamurthy

#WildAboutFacts

Here is a #MalabarGreyHornbill feeding on a #ficus fruit in #Dandeli, Karnataka. Hornbills feed throughout the day and visit many fruiting #trees, dispersing seeds en route. The presence of hornbills often indicates a #healthy ecosystem.

📷 Prajwal KM

#WildAboutFacts

As part of a study to understand #plant #frugivore interactions, #researchers collected the seeds regurgitated by #hornbills from a roosting site in the fragmented lowland wet evergreen forests of Upper #Assam.

📷 Abir Jain

#WildAboutFacts

#Hornbills use the same nests over the years. During #nesting, the female seals herself in the nest cavity for 3-4 months, leaving only a slit open through which the male delivers food to her, and the chick.

Rufous-necked Hornbill
📷 Narendra Kumar Pandey

#WildAboutFacts

But the #farmers of our #forests rarely reap what they sow. Many #hornbill species are in danger as their habitats are destroyed by #fragmentation and clearance of forest regions for #agriculture and #dams.

Wreathed Hornbill
📷 Baishakhi Mazumder

#WildAboutFacts

For example, #MalabarPiedHornbills are classified as #NearThreatened and the #NarcondamHornbills as #Endangered by the @IUCN. The #GreatHornbill is classified as #Vulnerable.

Great Hornbill
📷 Ramshesha N

#WildAboutFacts

#Poaching is a huge threat for #hornbills as they are hunted down for their large casques. While the casque is hollow in other species, the #HelmetedHornbill has a solid casque and has been poached almost to #extinction.

Malabar Pied Hornbill
📷 Girish Prahalad

#WildAboutFacts

To conserve #hornbills, illegal and unregulated logging of large trees, and removal of old trees with cavities must stop. Loss of native #trees affects their nesting and diet, posing a significant threat to their survival.

Great Hornbills
📷 Siva Kumar

You can help conserve #hornbills by adopting a hornbill! @AparajitaDatta4 and her @ncfindia team work with the Nyishi community in #Pakke to run the Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme. You can read more about it in this article by @AratiKumarRao.

natureinfocus.in/nature-and-wil…

Learn more about #hornbills and how changing #habitats are impacting the #GreatHornbill species in #Valparai #TamilNadu. Hornbill biologist @poojap837 shares her observations.

natureinfocus.in/indian-wildlif…

Step into the world of the #IndianGreyHornbills with #birdwatcher and #conservationist Ajay Gadikar, and gain fascinating insights into their #breeding behaviour.

natureinfocus.in/indian-wildlif…

"We found that in the forests with very high densities of hornbills, like the Namdapha Tiger Reserve, they could be dispersing more than 11,000 seeds per day per sq. km."

Rohit Naniwadekar of @ncfindia writes -

natureinfocus.in/indian-wildlif…