Bicornuate Calao

Description

The male is a little taller than the female, under species buceros bicornis will homrai can reach up to 1,30 m for a scale of 1,80 m and a weight of 3 kg. The plumage is white and black: the neck, the breast piece, of the parts of the head as well as the transverse bands on the wings are white. The tail is also white with a black transverse band in its central part. The very large nozzle curved to the bottom (up to 30 cm in the male, 25 in the female), even if it is not very heavy, is spectacular by the gilded also yellow helmet which decorates it and which is used as body of resonance. The powerful cry and the heavy and noisy flight are characteristic.

Except the size, the sexual dimorphism is marked little. The lashes of the higher eyelid are long. In the male, the iris is red-brown and the skin which surrounds the eye is black whereas in the female, the iris is white and the skin circumorbitale is pink with bright red. The bicornuate calao often saw in groups including the night that it passes in tree-dormitories. It is very well adapted to the arboricolous life and the three claws of its legs allow him good hangs to the branches. The life expectancy observed in captivity reaches up to 50 years but he is threatened by deforestation like by certain tribal uses (hairstyles, virtues allotted to the blood of the young people calaos…), this is why it is reproduced on the logo of QUOTE, Convention on the international business of the species of fauna and wild flora threatened of extinction.

Subspecies

Buceros bicornis bicornis, Linnaeus, 1758 - Thailand, Malaysia
Buceros bicornis will homrai, Hodgson, 1832 - India and Southeast Asia

Food

Primarily fruits particular the figs rich in sugar which make it possible the bicornuate calao to do without water but their fermentation can make it euphoric like observed it Gustav Schneider in Sumatra. Insects and small vertebrate - frogs, lizards, snakes, small birds, supplement this mode but the nozzle and the claws of the calao do not enable him to attack large preys.

Reproduction

Sexual maturity is reached at 4 years. Once formed, the couple remains faithful to life and niche in the crown of the trees between 15 and 20 meters in height. The female lays from 2 to 4 eggs in a hollow of tree, but in general, only one young person survives after the blossoming. After the laying, the female completely walls the nest with a made pulp of food, wood particles and excrements in order to prevent the intrusion of predatory (monkeys, snakes). Only a small opening is maintained to allow its food then that of small by the male. When it reached the age to fly - around 16 weeks, the female opens the entry of the nest with blows of nozzle. The young person must then hasten to learn how to fly because it does not have any drive.

References

External bonds

site of Natural Bombay History Society, ONG Indian whose logo is a bicornuate calao!
Great Hornbill videos vidéos visible on Internet site Bird Collection

Zh-yue: 犀鳥

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