#RHINOCEROS HORNBILL NEST SKIN#

The large bill assists in fighting, preening, constructing the nest, and catching prey. The most distinctive feature of the hornbills is the heavy bill, supported by powerful neck muscles as well as by the fused vertebrae. For example, the difference in body mass between males and females is 1–17%, but the variation is 8–30% for bill length and 1–21% in wing length. The extent of sexual dimorphism also varies with body parts. Males are always bigger than the females, though the extent to which this is true varies according to species. Other species rival the southern ground species in length, at up to about 130 cm (4 ft 3 in), including the Abyssinian ground hornbill ( Bucorvus abyssinicus), the great hornbill ( Buceros bicornis) and, probably the longest of all (perhaps exceeding 150 cm (4 ft 11 in)) thanks in part to its extended tail feathers, the helmeted hornbill ( Rhinoplax vigil). The largest and most massive species appears to be the southern ground hornbill which has an average weight of 3.77 kg (8.3 lb), and can weigh up to 6.3 kg (14 lb) and span about 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) across the wings. The smallest species is the black dwarf hornbill ( Tockus hartlaubi), at 99.1 g (3.50 oz) and 32 cm (1 ft 1 in) in length.

Hornbills show considerable variation in size.

#RHINOCEROS HORNBILL NEST SKIN#

Description The brightest colours on most hornbills, like this pair of knobbed hornbills, are found on the beaks and bare skin of the face and throat. Despite their close appearances, the two groups are not very closely related, with toucans being allied with the woodpeckers, honeyguides and several families of barbet, while hornbills (and their close relatives the ground hornbills) are allied with the hoopoes and wood-hoopoes. In the Neotropical realm, toucans occupy the hornbills' ecological niche, an example of convergent evolution. A number of mainly insular species of hornbill with small ranges are threatened with extinction, namely in Southeast Asia. They are monogamous breeders nesting in natural cavities in trees and sometimes cliffs. The family is omnivorous, feeding on fruit and small animals. They are the only birds in which the first and second neck vertebrae (the atlas and axis respectively) are fused together this probably provides a more stable platform for carrying the bill.

They are characterized by a long, down-curved bill which is frequently brightly coloured and sometimes has a horny casque on the upper mandible. Hornbills are birds found in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia of the family Bucerotidae. Buceros bicornis from Mangaon, Raigad, Maharashtra, India

Rhinoceros hornbill nest