African Red-Billed Hornbill (Interesting Parental Strategy)

The red-billed hornbill (Tockus erythrorhynchus) are native to Africa, order Bucerotiformes, live in the savanna. Southern Mauritania to Somalia is the range of the northern red-billed hornbill. The red-billed hornbill's habitat is in arid savanna, open woodlands, and thorn scrubs. Even though they are relatively large birds, they are one of the smaller hornbill species, measuring about 42 cm in length, including the long tail. Zazu is an African red-billed hornbill species that appears in the animated movie, The Lion King.

The underparts and heads of this species are white. On the forehead, there is a smokey stripe that extends over the crown. Dark brown is the color of the back, with a white stripe running along the middle. The wings are mostly a deep brown color with prominent white spots. The long tail is a dark brown color. They have characteristic orange-red jaws and are slightly curved. Female has smaller red bill than male. However, the female's red bill is smaller than the male's. Adults are duller, although juveniles are comparable. It owns a red bill that is straighter and smaller than adults. These peculiarly curved bills are used for courtship behaviors, foraging, and breaking out of the mud-sealed nest holes.

These birds have short wings and fly with a flap-and-glide flying pattern. While clinging to a tall tree trunk around a nest site, the long tail can be employed as a brace.

These birds are omnivorous, feeding insects, seeds, fruit, bird’s eggs as their diet. Small rodents are also included in their diet. Because the tongues are too small to manage food trapped at the point of the beak, they throw it back towards the throat with a twist of the head. They feed mainly on the ground. Outside of the breeding season, they graze primarily mostly on the ground and establish flocks. It eats in flocks of 40-80 birds or pairs on the ground. These gregarious and territorial birds, hunting for ground-dwelling insects, live in small family groups or pairs. These birds play a crucial part in sustaining a healthy ecosystem by helping to prevent the increase in the population of insects.
It does most of its foraging on the ground, rarely hawking prey aerially.

Mongooses and red-billed hornbills or and yellow-billed hornbills hunt together; the mongooses smell out and expose insects, whereas the hornbills keep an eye out for predators and emit alarm sounds. Red-billed Hornbill has predators, such as large raptors and adders.

These birds will defend their territory against members of their own species, but they may have overlapping territories with other hornbill species.

The red-billed hornbill nests in natural tree cavities. Females usually lay three to six eggs. These birds have an interesting parental strategy. She seals herself and the nest off with a cement-like substance made of mud, droppings, and fruit pulp. A narrow opening allows the male to transfer food to her, and later to her and the chicks as they remain sealed inside.

The female will incubate the two to seven eggs for around 24 days and she will remain in the nest with the chicks until the nest becomes too small. At this point, the female will let herself out and reseal the nest with the chicks inside. Then both parents feed the chicks together. Chicks fly well on emerging from the nest and never return to it, although they may remain with their parents for six months. The lifespan is about 15 years.

Their population is stable but they are vulnerable to habitat destruction. Population The global population size has not been officially quantified, but the species is reported to be widespread and locally common. Status IUCN: Least Concern.

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