| scientific wormhole
China's Hong Kong Customs has seized a batch of smuggled goods, the shape of the goods is very unique, the yellow part is pointed like a bird's beak, and the red part is quite thick.
Smugglers called it "the skull of a pheasant," and customs officials consulted experts to learn that the skulls were owned by a critically endangered bird, the helmeted hornbill.
There are more than 9,000 species of birds in the world, and the hornbills are distinguished by their brightly colored helmets. In it, the helmeted hornbilly's helmet protrusion is again a presence that is unparalleled in all things, because it is solid.
The solid helmets with bright and dazzling appearance and hard texture look strange and beautiful, but this uniqueness brings them the disaster of killing.
Humans stared at the heads of helmeted hornbills and removed their skulls to make various crafts, including ornaments, snuff bottles, bead chains, and so on. After the helmeted hornbills are removed from their bones, all that awaits them is death.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="11" > helmeted hornbills</h1>
The helmeted hornbilly belongs to the Buddhist monk hornbill family, native to southern Myanmar, southern Thailand, Sumatra and other places, mainly living in the rainforest below 1500 meters above sea level, is the largest of all hornbills.
They are 1.1-1.2 meters long, the male weighs about 6 pounds, and the female is slightly lighter, but also nearly 5 pounds.
Helmeted hornbills eat mainly the fruits of plants, but also animals such as insects, rodents and snakes. When eating, they will throw food into the air, and then hold it precisely and swallow it into the stomach.
Indigestible cores, bones, etc., will be spit out of the stomach.
Helmeted hornbills have large bright eyes , dark brown thorax and abdomen , metallic luster , white wing margins and tail feathers , broad black stripes , and a white lower abdomen.
However, the most unique part of the helmeted hornbill is the head. The skull of the helmeted hornbill resembles a helmet and is placed on top of the beak, and the female has a smaller helmet protrusion and a lighter color.
When adulthood , the helmeted hornbills secrete tail fat at the base of their tail feathers , dyeing the surface of the helmet bright red , retaining only part of the yellow body color on the forehead.
Solid helmets are as hard as stone, occupying 10% of the total weight of helmeted hornbills, and are a weapon for their self-protection, competition for their mates, and an important tool for feeding.
However, in the eyes of human beings, the helmet protrusion on which the helmeted hornbill depends is a good carving material.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="41" > was wiped out due to the sky-high price of the skull</h1>
China's collection circles circulate the saying of "one red, two black and three white", white is ivory, black is rhino horn, red is a helmeted hornbill skull carved into handicrafts, because of the bright color is called "crane top red".
The crafts made from helmeted hornbills are exquisite and in shape, but the way humans obtain skulls is extremely cruel: while they are alive, hunters directly saw off their beaks and take them away.
After obtaining the skull, people retained the beak part when carving, cut longitudinally in the helmet part, and carved a delicate pattern on the façade.
It is understood that the handicrafts carved from the skull of the helmet hornbill are expensive, worth more than 800,000 yuan, which is 3 times more expensive than ivory, and a skull can buy a suite.
Huge profits tempt poachers to kill them. In the local forest, poachers would imitate the helmeted hornbills " Gag, Gacker " to lure them to appearance , and the innocent helmeted hornbills were caught before they could react.
Helmeted hornbills that have lost their skulls can only wait to die. As mentioned earlier, helmets not only help them protect themselves and courtship, but are also an important tool for them to forage for food.
Without helmets, helmeted hornbills can breed and fight against predators, and even eating has become a problem. As a result, they either die of adversary or starvation. Ironically, some of the helmets are carved into the image of "Buddha", which is highly sought after by high-class people and literary enthusiasts.
Due to indiscriminate hunting and killing, helmeted hornbills have been exterminated, and the population has declined sharply, and there are now less than 100. At the same time, their endangerment level changed from near-threaten to critical within 3 years.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="42" > a family disaster</h1>
The capture of a helmeted hornbill is likely to mean the demise of an entire family of helmeted hornbills.
Helmeted hornbills are monogamous and breed from January to March or May to November. During the breeding season, they nest in rock crevices or tree holes in cliffs.
The helmeted hornbill father will bring wood chips, leaves, feathers, etc. and put them in the hole, and the mother bird will lay eggs in the hole. After that, the mother bird will pile the hole with the mixture of excrement seeds, and the bird father will also bring wet mud and other materials to help seal the hole, leaving only a gap.
For the next 3-4 months, the mother bird concentrates on nurturing the chicks in the hole until the chicks' feathers are basically full. During this period, the mother and son's dietary problems all depended on the feeding of the bird father.
So, if the male helmeted hornbillon is hunted during the breeding season, not only will it die on its own, but its mate and children will also be destroyed.
According to the law, hunting, transporting, and trading helmeted hornbill skulls are prohibited, but there are still people who take risks for profit, and in the final analysis, it is the buyer's desire.
There is no killing without buying and selling, and the most beautiful appearance of animals is always when it is full of life, not when a part is cut down and becomes a lifeless craft.
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