![]() There are several great questions about hornbills, and I hoped that some or all might be discussed or even answered here. Small drawings by Jonathan Kingdon also feature throughout the book. ![]() ![]() A colour plate section features a selection of beautiful, spectacular photos by Tim Laman. The volume is very much required reading for anyone seriously interested in the biology, evolution, ecology and conservation of hornbills, but it’s comprehensive enough and well-illustrated enough to be of broader appeal as well. Numerous subtitled sections, sidebars of text, graphs and tables of data feature throughout. It is thus more like a monograph on the diversity, distribution, evolution, behaviour and conservation biology of Asian hornbills. Margaret Kinnaird and Timothy O’Brien’s 2007 The Ecology and Conservation of Asian Hornbills is not a popular retelling of other people’s research on these fascinating birds, but a major piece of primary literature that presents, analyses and discusses a huge amount of new data (Kinnaird & O’Brien 2007). As large, slow-breeding animals that typically rely on large tracts of forest and reliable access to fruits and cavities in trees, hornbills are seriously endangered by habitat loss and degradation, and potentially by climate change and selective hunting. In most, the female becomes walled up – self-incarcerated – within the nest chamber the Helmeted hornbill Rhinoplax vigil engages in aerial jousting contents some species ‘paint’ their feathers and rhamphotheca with the oily secretions of their under-tail glands and co-operative breeding is the norm in some groups of species (like the Anorrhinus brown hornbills). They are also birds of incredible habits. The chicks of some hornbills possess paired air sacs located on either side of the dorsal midline, the function of which (if they have one) is completely unknown. Furrows, grooves and serrations sometimes mark their great, curved bills giant, lavish eyelashes, enormous tail feathers and brightly coloured neck and facial skin are present in some species and fused cervical vertebrae and bilobular kidneys are peculiar to the group. Great casques that form huge cylinders or curved, rhino-like horns decorate the heads of some species. Hornbills are also birds of splendid and remarkable anatomy. Hornbills are slow to mature, Buceros not breeding until four or five years of age. Sexual dimorphism is extreme in some species, with the males of some being as much as 66% larger than the females. The largest species have wingspans of over 1.5 m and weigh as much as 6 kg (in the case of the Southern ground hornbill Bucorvus leadbeateri) some (the Great hornbill Buceros bicornis and Southern ground hornbill) can reportedly live for more than 60 or even 70 years. Approximately 60 hornbill species occur across tropical Africa and Asia, and also in the Middle East and Australasia. Hornbills are among the most charismatic, fascinating and awesome of birds, yet surprisingly little is known about them, dedicated studies are few, and they are incredibly elusive and hard to study.
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