4/3/2023 0 Comments Botanicula bird hornsThe 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. 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 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. Both the common English and the scientific name of the family refer to the shape of the bill, "buceros" being "cow horn" in Greek. They are characterized by a long, down-curved bill which is frequently brightly coloured and sometimes has a casque on the upper mandible. Hornbills ( Bucerotidae) are a family of bird found in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia. Buceros bicornis from Mangaon, Raigad, Maharashtra, India
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