Abyssinian ground hornbill
Abyssinian ground hornbill | |
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male | |
female both at Semliki Wildlife Reserve, Uganda | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Bucerotiformes |
Family: | Bucorvidae |
Genus: | Bucorvus |
Species: | B. abyssinicus
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Binomial name | |
Bucorvus abyssinicus (Boddaert, 1783)
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The Abyssinian ground hornbill or northern ground hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus) is an African bird, found north of the equator, and is one of two species of ground hornbill. It is the second largest species of African hornbill, only surpassed by the slightly larger southern ground hornbill.
Taxonomy
The Abyssinian ground hornbill was described by the French polymath
Description
Abyssinian ground hornbill is a large, terrestrial hornbill with black body feathers and white
The Abyssinian ground hornbill has long feathers that look like eyelashes that surround its eyes. These protect the eyes from injury.[10]
It reportedly averages around 90 to 100 cm (35 to 39 in) tall, around 110 cm (43 in) and weighs approximately 4 kg (8.8 lb). Per Stevenson and Fanshawe, the Abyssinian is a larger species on average than the southern ground hornbill, at 102 cm (40 in), but published weights and standard measurements contrarily indicate the southern species is indeed slightly larger.[11][12]
Voice
A deep booming uh-uh, uh-uh-uh which is far carrying and is normally made at dawn from either a perch or from the ground.[9] The male and female sing in duets.[13]
Distribution and habitat
The Abyssinian ground hornbill is found in Northern sub-Saharan Africa from southern Mauritania, Senegal and Guinea east to Eritrea, Ethiopia, north western Somalia, north western Kenya and Uganda.[14]
It is found in open habitats such as savanna, sub-desert scrub, and rocky areas, preferring short vegetation which enables its visual foraging technique. The areas inhabited by this species are usually drier areas than the preferred habitat of the Southern ground hornbill. It will tolerate disturbed areas but does require large trees to be used as nest sites.[13]
The Abyssinian ground hornbill has escaped or been deliberately released in to Florida, USA, but there is no evidence that the population is breeding and may only persist due to continuing releases or escapes.[15]
Behaviour
The Abyssinian ground hornbill lives in open grassland, in pairs or small family parties. They patrol their territory by walking and are reluctant fliers, usually only taking to the air when alarmed.[9] In captivity, they can live 35–40 years. Diet in the wild consists of a wide variety of small vertebrates and invertebrates, including tortoises, lizards, snakes, birds, spiders, beetles, and caterpillars; they also take carrion, some fruits, seeds, and groundnuts. Groups of ground hornbills have territories of 2–100 square miles (5.2–259.0 km2). They are diurnal.
Breeding
The breeding season of the Abyssinian ground hornbill varies across its range: the West African populations breed in June through to August,
Abyssinian ground hornbills invest a lot in their offspring and the fledged juveniles will remain with their parents for up to three years. They have a slow breeding rate and an average of one chick is raised to adulthood every 9 years so the adults' investment in each young bird raised is exceptionally high.[13]
Feeding
Abyssinian ground hornbills are opportunist feeders, following ungulate herds and forest fires so that they can prey on small animals disturbed by the larger animals or flames. An individual hornbill can walk up to 11 km (6.8 mi) in a day, pouncing on and eating animals they come across. They have also been recorded digging for arthropods in the soil and attacking bee hives for honeycomb; they very rarely consume any plant matter. The strong bill is used to capture and overcome the prey before it is eaten.[13]
Predators, parasites and diseases
Abyssinian ground hornbills are preyed on by large carnivores, such as leopards. Human predation for food occurs in some countries, including northern Cameroon and Burkina Faso. The nests may be preyed upon by smaller terrestrial predators.
The Abyssinian ground hornbill is a known host for the bird lice Bucorvellus docophorus, Bucerophagus productus and Bucerophagus africanus; it is also a host for the nematode Histiocephalus bucorvi and the tapeworms Chapmania unilateralis, Idiogenes bucorvi, Ophryocotyloides pinguis, and Paruterina daouensis. An individual held in captivity but which had been caught in the wild died from an infection of the bacteria Aeromonas hydrophila, a common pathogen in fish but not previously recorded in wild Abyssinian ground hornbills. In North America captive Abyssinian ground hornbills have also been known to die because of West Nile virus.[13]
Cultural importance
Abyssinian ground hornbills are not a normal quarry for commercial hunters, although they are not uncommon in captivity in zoos. In some areas the species has cultural significance and hunters may tie the severed head and neck of these birds around their necks in the belief that it helps them stalk their wild ungulate quarry. In some villages the call is often imitated and there are even entire songs based on the male and female duets of Abyssinian ground hornbills.[13]
Status and conservation
The Abyssinian ground hornbill is subject to the loss and degradation of its habitat and it is a quarry of hunters, in a similar way to its
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A pair at Fort Worth Zoo
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Female Abyssinian Ground-hornbill in Murchison Falls National Park
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The species has long eyelashes as seen on this female identified by a blue throat pouch.
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Egg of Bucorvus abyssinicusMHNT
References
- ^ . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc de (1780). "Le cacao d'Abyssinie". Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux (in French). Vol. 13. Paris: De L'Imprimerie Royale. p. 230.
- Daubenton, Louis-Jean-Marie (1765–1783). "Grand calao, d'Abyssinie". Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle. Vol. 8. Paris: De L'Imprimerie Royale. Plate 779.
- ^ Boddaert, Pieter (1783). Table des planches enluminéez d'histoire naturelle de M. D'Aubenton : avec les denominations de M.M. de Buffon, Brisson, Edwards, Linnaeus et Latham, precedé d'une notice des principaux ouvrages zoologiques enluminés (in French). Utrecht. p. 48, Number 779.
- ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1945). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 272.
- ^ Lesson, René (1830). Traité d'Ornithologie, ou Tableau Méthodique (in French). Paris: F.G. Levrault. p. 256 (livre 4).
- ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Mousebirds, Cuckoo Roller, trogons, hoopoes, hornbills". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ ISBN 0-7136-3959-8.
- ^ "Abyssinian ground hornbill". Smithsonian's National Zoo. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
- ISBN 978-0856610790
- ^ "Birds: Hornbill". San Diego Zoo. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Krause, B. 2009. "Bucorvus abyssinicus" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web". Animal Diversity Web. Regents of the University of Michigan. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ "Northern Ground-hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus)". Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ^ "Abyssinian Ground-Hornbill". Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Archived from the original on 30 October 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
Relevant literature
- Asefa, Addisu. "Exploration of human-bird relationships: Oromo proverbs associated with the Northern Ground-hornbill in Ethiopia." Social Sciences & Humanities Open 4, no. 1 (2021): 100-162.