The Great Hornbill

By Bora Zivkovic | February 13, 2012 | 1

Share Share Email Print Print

Image of the Week #30, February 13th, 2012:

From: Artificial Beaks Helping to Save Hornbills from Extinction in India by John Platt at Extinction Countdown

Source: Lip Kee Yap on Flickr

The great hornbill (Buceros bicornis), is one of five hornbill species native to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. In addition to facing the perils of habitat destruction, they are threatened by hunting; their beaks form the centerpiece of traditional headpieces worn by the Nyishi people. Thanks to a conservation effort started in 2000 that offers the Nyishi synthetic bills instead of natural ones, hornbill populations are bouncing back in Arunachal Pradesh. Between 2000 and 2007, their population grew from just 500 to 2,000.

About the Author: Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.

More »

The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Previous: The Brain is one Awesomely Complicated Piece of Meat

More
Image of the Week

Next: Entangled

1 Comment

Add Comment

1. MsEBL 3:20 am 02/19/2012

That is a magnificent bird and a great photograph.
Link to this

Add a Comment
You must sign in or register as a ScientificAmerican.com member to submit a comment.
Click one of the buttons below to register using an existing Social Account.