Southern Ground Hornbill

Adopt it! Protect it!

Scientific Name:

Bucorvus leadbeateri

Distribution

Southern and Eastern Africa.

Diet:

Generally carnivorous, their diet consists of arthropods, lizards, amprhibians, snakes, hares, and sometimes carrion, seeds and fruit.

Facts

Habitat: Woodland and savannah habitats.

 

Incubation: Monogamous, they lay 1-2 eggs but in the end only the first survives, the second one dies of starvation.
 

Social structure: groups of 2-11 individuals, one single breeding pair and helpers.
 

Weight: max 6,1 kg male, max 4,6 kg female
 

Dimensions: max 102cm length
 

Lifespan: unknown (54+ in human care) 

IUCN Status: Vulnerable

Estimated population in the wild: Unknown but thought to be common-Decreasing

Threats:  Degradation and destruction of their habitat due to the expansion of agricultural land, persecution due to superstitions, secondary poisoning, electrocution on electrical lines.
 

Did you know that:

1. It is the world’s largest Hornbill.
2. Females are not sealed in to the nest as is typical of other hornbill species.
3. The species is protected in Africa by the Mabula Southern Ground Hornbill Project group, where they take the second egg or hatchling from the nest (which usually dies of starvation) and raise the young for reintroduction to the wild.