Head north along the road west of the Waterfowl Lake at beijing zoo, and on the left-hand side is the Bird Garden, the most attractive of which is the Hornbill Hall, which is full of large and medium-sized birds. The double-horned hornbill with a body length of about 120 cm (the length of the bird is from the tip of the mouth to the end of the tail feather) is not only the largest one in the hornbill hall, but also the largest of the hornbill birds produced in China, so it is favored by people. ▼▼▼
The hornbill is more loved for its distinctive, long, curved beak, in which the species with helmets in the upper beak is more ornamental than those without helmets, and the two-horned hornbill is still the dominant in this element. Its male adult bird has a large beak 30 cm long and a thick and wide helmet protrusion, while the female has a slightly smaller beak and helmet protrusion. From above, the top of the helmet is slightly like a flat, the front is suspended, and the posterior edge is wide and round, much like the crown worn by ancient emperors, which is very interesting. ▼▼▼
In fact, the front part of the helmet process is slightly concave, and the two sides of the front end form a bimodal shape, which is seen from the side as two horn-like protrusions, which is also named. In terms of color, the upper mouth is waxy yellow and the lower mouth is ivory white. The tip of the upper mouth and the top of the helmet are stained orange-red, and there are black patches on the posterior edge of the helmet and at the intersection of the front and upper mouth. ▼▼▼
The two-horned hornbill also has a pair of beautiful eyes. It has a small ring of bright red bare skin around the eyes, and the eyelids have developed long eyelashes. What is even more peculiar is that the iris of the male bird is dark red, while the female bird's is bead white, which is rare in other birds. ▼▼▼
Although a large bird, the two-horned hornbill is still relatively good at singing, and it is often seen in zoos that its neck is vertically upwards, pointing its mouth to the sky, and making a rough, loud "tok" call, slow and rhythmic, and repetitive. ▼▼▼
Let's take a look at its mainly black and white feathers. The plumage of the two-horned hornbill is similar in color, with black on the cheeks, chin and throat centered on the base of the mouth, milky white and yellow on the back of the head and neck, black on the upper body back, shoulders, waist and tail, black on the lower body thorax, and white covert feathers on the abdomen and under the tail. The wings are black, but the tip of the wing is white, and there are obvious white wing spots, which are very eye-catching. The tail feathers are white , but there is a broad black banded subterranean spot near the tip. This color combination looks simple, bright, contrasting and very modern. ▼▼▼
The two-horned hornbills are short and strong, grey-green and stained brown, feathered on the upper part, shield-like scales on the leading edge, and reticulated scales on the posterior edge, with almost black claws. If these details you think are not easy to see clearly, then the following feature please take a moment to take a closer look, this is its three forward, one backward toe, its outer toe and the base of the middle toe two-thirds of the merger, the inner toe and the middle toe base node also merge, such a toe type is called parallel toe type, very suitable for climbing edge. Therefore, hornbills are classified as climbing birds in the ecological type of birds.
In the wild , the two-horned hornbills are resident birds , inhabiting evergreen broad-leaved forests in the low mountains and foothill plains below 1500 m above sea level , especially near the valleys of forests with rapid streams , except during the breeding season , when they flock to tall banyan trees during the day , and fly to the top of large trees obscured by dense leaf clusters at sunset for the night.
The two-horned hornbill has a large amount of food and a very mixed diet, mainly feeding on the fruits and seeds of various tropical plants such as figs and cardamom fruits, and also eats large insects, lizards, snakes, rodents and other animal foods. It is common to forage in trees and sometimes to pick up fallen fruit on the ground. During the ripening season, the group is mostly fixed in one place to eat, and only changes to a new place until the food is exhausted. Its large mouth looks bulky, in fact a tool and a weapon, and it is very dexterous to use, making it easy to pick berries, peel nuts easily, and catch all kinds of small animals with ease.
In the zoo, the feed of the two-horned hornbill is mainly beef, eggs, carrots, concentrates and various fruits, of which there are more types of fruits, and some seasonal fruits are exchanged to achieve food abundance. In general, it prefers tiss and dragon fruit, followed by cherry tomatoes, apples and pears. Keepers usually make meat into chunky meat jelly, in the summer the fruit is also frozen in ice cubes, occasionally provide some live insects, rodents, etc., often take the food in containers, branches, or leaves and other ways to hide, improve the difficulty of obtaining food, and sometimes use the method of feeding food to exercise their ability to feed in the air and the coordination of various parts of the body. ▼▼▼(The bird on the right has just received food thrown into the air)
The wings of the two-horned hornbill are wide, often flying in groups in the wild, one after another fish forward and backward, flying slowly and lightly, the speed is not fast, the posture is also very peculiar, the head and neck are very straight, the wings are flattened, after several up and down agitations, they will glide forward, and then flap their wings a few times, and so on repeatedly, as if shaking. Because the underwing coverts fail to cover the base of the feathers, there is a loud noise between the feathers when flying. In zoos with relatively open indoor and outdoor spaces such as Beijing Wildlife Park and Guangzhou Chimelong Wildlife World, you can also see the flying scene of two-horned hornbills. ▼▼▼
In zoos, the two-horned hornbills are more likely to walk and jump side by side, including jumping forward on the ground or jumping sideways on the perch, turning around and jumping. Plants such as lawns, trees and shrubs planted in the museum are trying to imitate the complex natural environment in the wild, while spraying, spraying and other measures can create natural conditions closer to their lives.
The double-horned hornbill is mainly distributed in South Asia and Southeast Asia, and is only found in Yingjiang, Xishuangbanna and other places in southern Yunnan in China, and the Dai compatriots in the place of origin call it "love bird", which is due to its peculiar breeding habits.
In the wild, the two-horned hornbills breed from March to June each year, choosing to nest in natural tree holes on tall trees such as the Linden tree in the forest. The male bird seals the opening of the cave with a mixture of mud fruits, seeds and wood chips, leaving only a small hole for the female bird in the cave to stick out her mouth to eat, which is a bit of a "golden house hidden". The food during the incubation and brooding period is provided by the male and brought back to the nest again and again. If the female does not stick out her mouth to greet the visitor, the male gently taps the trunk of the tree with her mouth to inform the female to feed.
Although this peculiar closed breeding habit can ensure that females and chicks are not attacked by predators, they are powerless in the face of human misconduct, and even bring greater disasters. Therefore, we must strengthen publicity and education and resolutely eradicate poaching, as well as the phenomenon of illegal logging and environmental pollution, so that it can live freely in nature and multiply.
(The pictures in this article are all taken by the author Li Xiangtao unless specially marked)