◎ Eagle flying
The crested hornbills are named after the crowned helmets with black spots on the upper part of their heads
Wearing a "helmet" on your mouth
The crowned hornbilly, belonging to the Buddhist monks of the hornbill family, is also known as the spotted hornbill or the Indian spotted hornbills, so named because of the crown-like helmets with black spots on the upper part of its head. Its skull is thick and hard, and the jaw and foremandible are extremely protruding, forming a huge upper beak, and its posterior part, together with the nasal bone, is significantly raised backwards, forming a helmet process. The dark spots on the male helmet protrusions are much larger than those of the female, extending backwards from the tip of the beak and covering 1/3 to 1/2 of the entire helmet process, while the females have almost no dark spots on the back of the helmet protrusions.
The crowned hornbill is larger, about 74 to 78 cm long, the upper body and back are black, with a green metallic luster, the abdomen and lower body are white, the wings and tail are more dazzling metallic, and the feet are lead black. There are two symmetrical pale yellow patches on the neck, the eyes are close to the base of the large ivory mouth, and there is a round of white circles around it.
Fly like an airplane
There are 54 species of hornbills in the world, and the crowned hornbill is one of the only 5 species of hornbill birds in China, which belongs to the national second-level protected animal. It is distributed in the Western Daming Mountain Nature Reserve in the west of Nanning City, Guangxi Province, Gaoligong Mountain and Wuliang Mountain in Yunnan Province, and is the only hornbill bird distributed in Guangxi today. The crowned hornbill is mainly found in India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and other countries. They live in tropical and subtropical forests, live in groups, come out during the day, and belong to resident birds.
The crowned hornbill is very alert in temperament, and immediately flies away when it encounters a slight fright. Its flight posture is very special, good at gliding, the head and neck are straight forward, the wings are flattened, much like an airplane, so it is also called "aircraft bird". When flying in groups, they continue to make "ahk, ahk, ahk" sounds, which are used to communicate with their peers.
The "forest farmer" helps to spread the seeds
The crested hornbill feeds mainly on the fruits and seeds of wild plants , with a distinct preference for succulent fruit-fleshed stone fruits , berries and figs , and sometimes to the ground to prey on snails , worms , rodents , reptiles and insects. When eating, they often throw food in the air and then hold it with their mouths without error.
The crowned hornbill is also nicknamed the "forest farmer" because it can eat and digest larger, harder fruits and seeds that many animals can't eat, and spread the seeds far. Without their help, certain tree species are difficult to pass on from generation to generation, making it a key species that reflects the health of tropical and subtropical forest ecosystems. At the same time, the diversity of food is also critical to the success of the crowned hornbills.
The love between husband and wife is deep to death
The breeding season begins in March for the crowned hornbills. They lay 2 to 4 eggs at a time, the eggs are white, the surface is rough and porous, and the incubation period is about 1 month. The two men nest in a tree hole high above the ground. During the brooding period, the male bird transforms into a career man, foraging outside during the day, and perching outside the nest at night, standing guard and guarding the guard, protecting his wife and children.
The female always lives in the tree cave as a full-time mother, and piles her excrement with seeds, rotten wood, etc. at the mouth of the hole. The male closes the tree hole with wet soil, fruit residue, etc. outside, leaving only a crack, from which the female sticks her beak out of the hole to receive feeding from the male.
If one of the adult birds dies, the other will never find a new love, but will die of hunger strike in sorrow. Hunting one is the equivalent of destroying a family. This lifelong monogamy has resulted in the crowned hornbill being dubbed the "love bird".
Lifelong monogamy has led to the crowned hornbills being dubbed "love birds"
Poaching and habitat degradation have led to dramatic declines
According to a 2009 survey, at least 50 crested hornbills live in the Damingshan area of western Guangxi, the largest population in Guangxi at present, but the numbers are clearly declining, mainly due to poaching and habitat reduction or degradation. Poachers include surrounding villagers and migrant workers who enter the forest area to produce, mostly engaged in cutting rosin or logging, and poaching wild animals for consumption in their spare time. The effects of habitat loss and degradation on the population of the crowned hornbill are also more pronounced.
Compared with 30 years ago, the area of natural forests in the West Daming Mountains has been greatly reduced and seriously fragmented. For example, the two large forest areas of the main peak of The West Daming Mountain and the main peak of xiaoming mountain are about 10 kilometers apart. The main vegetation between these two natural forests is plantation, farmland and shrubland, and human activities and disturbances are frequent, which to some extent forms a barrier to the crowned hornbill in the West Daming Mountain Nature Reserve, limits the effective exchange of genes, and will threaten the survival of the local crowned hornbill for a long time.
In some of the remaining natural forests, a large number of canopy trees have also been cut down by villagers to promote the growth of important local understory cash crops, and many of these tree species (such as sour dates) are favorite food sources for crested hornbills. According to the IUCN assessment, the crested hornbill has been included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and the latest assessment (2012) designates it as a "near threatened species (NT)". (Please indicate that it is reproduced from Environment and Life Magazine)
Editor-in-charge: Ye Xiaoting
Editor: Wu Yanfang