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Southern Ground-Hornbill Members of the Hornbill Order Bucerotiformes

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Southern Ground-Hornbill Members of the Hornbill Order Bucerotiformes FUTURE: UNCERTAIN GROUND-HORNBILLS ARE THE EARLIEST offshoot of the currently surviving SOUTHERN GROUND-HORNBILL members of the hornbill order Bucerotiformes. They branched off about 30 million years ago, during the Oligocene epoch when grasslands first devel- oped and spread across the world. But modern-day pressures from man are proving too great for this ancient lineage, and its populations are starting to show a swift decline, affecting not just the Southern Ground-Hornbill Bucor- vus leadbeateri in South Africa but across their African range, and including vanishing icon the Northern (Abyssinian) Ground-Hornbill B. abyssinicus. The Southern Ground-Hornbill is listed as Vulnerable throughout its sub-equatorial range. GROund-hORNBILLS are top predators of the savannas, icons along with rhinos, wild dogs and cheetahs, and they are the largest cooperative breeders in the world. Threats to Southern Ground- Hornbills are many and often complex. The birds occur natur- ally at low densities and each T group requires a huge territory, the size of which is determined by habitat quality. In the Kruger National Park and KwaZulu- Natal Midlands, these territories are about 100 square kilometres, in the drier Limpopo River valley they increase to about 250 square kilometres, whereas among trop- TANJA MERENSKY ical woodlands at Mana Pools in Zimbabwe or Niassa in Mozam- bique groups can manage with a Latest South African-based mere 60 square kilometres. BirdLife Species Guardian They are also slow breeders MABULA GROUND-HORNBILL PROJECT and can live about as long as hu- mans; one captive bird reached his project is the only one engaged exclusively in ground- the ripe old age of 66 years. Most Thornbill conservation (for both the Southern and Northern only attain sexual maturity at ap- species). In South Africa, this non-profit organisation is an active proximately eight years of age, member of the national Southern Ground-Hornbill Action Group. and their complex cooperative In line with the group’s 2011 Species Recovery Plan, the project is responsible for the removal and hand-rearing of otherwise breeding structure means that redundant second-hatched chicks from the wild, as well as only one alpha pair in a group captive-breeding and reintroduction programmes. Some of forms the breeding unit. The rest its many other interventions include monitoring the health of of the group share the parental > South African populations of ground-hornbills, an education and awareness programme, work in rural areas to reduce poisoning above, right Ground-Hornbills of the birds and their persecution for window-breaking, as well as walk alongside a road in the Kruger investigating the genetic health of the populations that occur in National Park. During the dry winter neighbouring states and across their African range. season, food is limited and the birds The formal link with the BirdLife network has given the organi- have learnt to beg for scraps from sation access to international and especially African conservation An alpha male, his bare throat fully inflated, delivers motorists, sometimes to their detri- research networks and funding opportunities. lining of leaves and grass to his mate, just visible inside ment as they may be killed or injured For more information, visit www.ground-hornbill.org.za the natural nest cavity in a large leadwood tree. by careless drivers. MARTIN BENADIE 54 AFRICAN BIRDLIFE MARCH/APRIL 2013 FUTURE: UNCERTAIN 55 FUTURE: UNCERTAIN MARTIN BENADIE inappropriately to crops poison invertebrates which the hornbills TANJA MERENSKY subsequently eat and they then the most conservation-minded constitute more than half of the become victims of secondary landowner to pick up a rifle or entire South African population poisoning. As the birds forage lay down poison. of Southern Ground-Hornbills. together, this can be life threat- Being so charismatic, ground- The remainder persist on smaller ening for a number of birds in a hornbills are sought after by reserves in state, commercial and single group. Electrical trans- zoos and private collectors and rural properties in Mpumalanga, 15c/MB. former boxes also take their toll are harvested from the wild. Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and the because the birds, being such in- Their trade is not yet regulated Eastern Cape. The Kruger Na- only quisitive creatures, are inclined by CITES, despite the species’ tional Park is probably not large to peck around between the live threatened conservation status. enough to sustain a viable popu- wires and are electrocuted. The ground-hornbills’ import- lation and it is obviously also pay Now ALBERT FRONEMAN The territorial nature of the ance among local communities risky to have all the hornbills in ground-hornbill also contributes works both for and against them: just one area, so it is vital that we head. territory, helping to rear the al- on average, groups only success- the expansion of monoculture to its downfall. When a ground- in areas where they are culturally do all we can to boost the ‘out- pha’s chick, defending the group’s fully raise one chick every nine crops and plantations, overgrazing hornbill sees its reflection in a revered, they are unharmed or side’ populations as a buffer and territory and learning their par- years. However, the provision of of ground cover, poor fire man- window, windscreen, mirror or even actively protected, whereas as insurance for the conserved its on ental roles over a number of artificial nest sites has proved to agement practices and bush en- shiny car, it views it as a com- in areas where they are used for population. years before they move off to greatly increase the breeding rate. croachment are all culprits. petitor that must be vanquished. traditional medicines and other LUCY KEMP initiate their own breeding unit. In rural areas, the ground- Coupled to this are other threats This is a common behaviour in cultural practices, such as indic- pricing For the first two to three years hornbills face a myriad anthro- that cause unnatural increases in many birds, such as some species ators of rain or protectors from An immature male carries of their lives, the fledglings learn pogenic threats. As with many mortality. A significant hazard, of weavers and sparrows which lightning, they are harvested. above, left An alpha pair perched in Data a baboon spider as food for the rules of the wild from the rest species, loss of habitat plays the suspected of initially dropping the peck at windows. In the case of Because there are sizeable popu- a position typical of a preamble to courtship or to provision the of the group, such as where to major role in reducing the viabil- populations, is the indiscriminate the ground-hornbill, however, lations in the Kruger National mating. alpha breeding female. The sleep, what to hunt and what to ity of a population. The birds not use of agro-chemical poisons – the difference is the size of its bill Park and surrounding private turned blue-grey mark on the red avoid. Group size can range from only have less space in which to bait intended for species such as and the power behind it, given conservation areas (about 1 500 above A group of hornbills on the skin over the jaw muscle is a a single pair to at least nine birds, live as human settlements expand, jackals, but which is also attract- that this tool is designed for dis- birds, but comprising less than move on a hot day in the Kruger We’ve tattooed number, a method but the average is about four. they lose suitable nesting trees and ive to this carnivorous hornbill. patching prey such as puff-adders 400 breeding groups), there is a National Park, their upper wing used in the past to trace the Long-term research in the Kru- good quality foraging areas. The Despite eco-friendly alternatives or hares. The cost of repairing misconception that the species is coverts raised and bare underwings survival of individuals. ger National Park reveals that, demand for firewood and timber, being available, pesticides applied broken windows can drive even doing well. In reality, these birds exposed to radiate excess heat. 39995 JHB THE56 AFRICAN POWER BIRDLIFE IS IN YOUR HANDS TO CONSERVE OUR ENDANGERED BIRD SPECIES. NOW USE IT..
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