■ India’s fascinating hornbills and Their features-
✅The logo for India’s upcoming G20 presidency was officially unveiled recently at the Hornbill festival in Nagaland.
✅Brings attention to a family of some of the largest, most magnificent birds in our country.
● Great Hornbill:
✅Occurrence: Himalayan foothills, the Northeast and the Western Ghats.
✅Recognition: state bird of Arunachal Pradesh and Kerala.
✅Physical features: Wingspan – 5 feet
● Other species:
✅Wreathed hornbill, the brown hornbill and the rufous-necked hornbill
✅Slightly smaller
✅Found only in Northeast India
✅Oriental pied hornbill
✅Found in the Rajaji National Park, Uttarakhand
✅Malabar grey hornbill
✅Found in Western Ghats
✅Indian grey hornbill
✅Smallest sized hornbill
✅Found all over (except the Thar Desert)
● Characteristics of the bird:
✅Living preferences: tall trees (breast height being 1.5 metres or more).
✅Environmental relationship: Mutualism with the trees where they nest.
✅Eating preferences: Large fruit-eating birds
✅Environmental propagation: Disperse the seeds of ~80 rainforest trees.
● Decline in the population:
✅Characteristic of the decline: Slow as they are long lived (~40 years)
✅Large size: makes them prone to being hunted
✅Helmeted hornbill of Sumatra and Borneo: critically endangered
✅Due to its helmet-like casque (a horny outgrowth over the skull), aka red ivory, is highly prized.
