Ground hornbills
| Ground hornbills | ||||||||||
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Red-cheeked horn raven ( Bucorvus leadbeateri ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Bucorvus | ||||||||||
| Lesson , 1830 |
Ground hornbills ( Bucorvus ) are a genus from the order of hornbills and hops (Bucerotiformes) , which consists of two closely related species and is widespread in Africa . Apart from the bare, red and blue areas of skin on the head, they resemble large ravens. Their plumage is predominantly black. Only in birds in flight is it visible that the hand wings are white. Unlike the closely related hornbills, ground hornbills are good runners. Ground hornbills have 15 cervical vertebrae , while the real hornbills have only 14. The legs are also longer and have a special tendon that runs from the pelvis to the femur .
Way of life
Ground-dwelling life in short-grass steppes and savannahs . The birds can run at speeds of up to 30 km / h. The bird, which can weigh up to four kilograms, is not much faster in flight.
Ground hornbills mainly feed on large insects and small vertebrates . Occasionally they also eat lizards , small mammals and young birds.
They live territorially in a territory of about 100 square kilometers in size in groups of up to ten animals. The claim to territory is emphasized by dull calls. Only a dominant pair will reproduce. Ground hornbills breed in crevices and tree hollows, preferably in baobab trees . Usually the female lays two eggs, but only one young is raised. The breeding female is fed by the male, but not walled in with clay, as is the case with the other hornbills. It can still leave the breeding cave and go hunting itself.
Ground hornbills are attacked by feather lice of the genus Burvellus , which can only be found on them.
Although the species are not considered common in their range, the IUCN classifies them as harmless.
species
- The northern ground hornbill or Sudanese hornbill ( Bucorvus abyssinicus ) lives in steppes and savannas south of the Sahara . The beak attachment is high and open at the front. The bare skin on the head is blue and red in the male and blue in the female.
- The southern hornbill ( Bucorvus leadbeateri ), also called red- cheeked hornbill or southern hornbill , lives from Kenya to Angola and South Africa . The beak attachment is flat and short. The bare skin on the head is carmine red in the male, dark red in the female and light orange in the young bird. The red-cheeked horn raven was also known as the Kaffir horn raven (Bucorvus cafer) .
literature
- Gottfried Mauersberger: Urania Tierreich, Vögel Urania-Verlag, 1991, ISBN 3-332-00491-3
- Christopher Perrins: The Great Encyclopedia of Birds . Orbis-Verlag, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-572-00810-7
- Sauer's nature guide: African birds , Fauna Verlag, 1994
Individual evidence
- ^ Alan Kemp: The Hornbills - Bucerotiformes , Bird Families of the World, Oxford University press 1995, ISBN 0-19-857729-X
