Behind every piece of helmeted hornbill "ivory" lies a family massacre
In recent years, among the smuggled wildlife products seized by customs in China and Southeast Asia, besides the more familiar pangolins, pythons and bear paws, there is anothervividly colored, strangely shapeditem, with a yellow pointed casque, and below the pointed casque a red base.
Do you know what this is? Image: iflscience.com
Most people do not know what it is. In fact, it comes from a rare and bizarre bird, today's subject -the helmeted hornbillRhinoplax vigil。
the helmeted hornbill. Image: animalia-life.club
A rhino horn growing on the head
Hornbills belong to the family Bucerotidae in the order Bucerotiformes. This family has few members, with just over 50 species in total, and theirexaggerated large billsusually leave a rather deep impression. The helmeted hornbill is the only species in the genus Rhinoplax within the family Bucerotidae. The genus name Rhinoplax comes from the Greek words rhinos (nose) and plakos (flat top), referring to the truncated front end of the casque on its bill; the species epithet vigil comes from Latin, meaning watchful.
The bill of the helmeted hornbill is red and yellow. Image: Michaela Koschova
The Chinese name for hornbills comes from the fact that most of them have a specially shaped casque on their huge bills,looking like a rhinoceros horn. Compared with the slightly downward-curving bills of other hornbills, the bill of the helmeted hornbill is straight. The casque of the helmeted hornbill is roughly cylindrical in shape, with a flat plane at the front end; the flat part is yellow, while the whole is red, and this red color is dyed by a red waxy secretion from the uropygial gland.
However, not all hornbills have a casque. In some species the casque is extremely inconspicuous or even absent, such asthe brightly colored brown-necked hornbill。
The brown-necked hornbill, which has no casque. Image: Dibyendu Ash / wikipedia
The family Bucerotidae is distributed in tropical regions of both Asia and Africa. African species have plain body colors, mainlyblack, white and graytones, while Asian speciesare relatively brightly coloredand are also larger in size than most African species. Because hornbills are mostly distributed in tropical regions, most Chinese people are not familiar with them, but in fact there are 5 species of hornbills distributed in southwestern China. Although China has no helmeted hornbill, its distribution is not exactly narrow either; it can be seen on the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo in Southeast Asia.
The brown-necked hornbill may be the most beautiful hornbill. Image: naturephotographysimplified.com
Hornbills are large in size; some species can exceed 1 m in body length, and even the smallest species is around 30 cm. Within the entire family Bucerotidae, the helmeted hornbill is second in size only to the two species in the African genus Bucorvus, and together with the great hornbill it is among the largest hornbills in Asia. Although it is not the largest in size, its body length is the longest in the family Bucerotidae,reaching 110-120 cm, and this does not include the elongated part of its tail feathers, which is up to 50 cm long. The helmeted hornbill is also heavy; males weigh around 3 kg, and females are slightly smaller, about 2.7 kg.
The great hornbill is likewise among the largest hornbills in Asia. Image: Angadachappa / wikipedia
Is it beautiful or ugly?
Some hornbills have athroat pouch of varying colorsat the throat, and the throat pouch of the helmeted hornbill is especially exaggerated in size, occupying almost the entire front of the neck.The throat pouch is bare skin, with no feathers attached, and it also has multiple folds slanting toward the lower rear. The male's throat pouch is a murky dark red, while the female's is slightly more attractive, being blue-white.
The throat pouch of the helmeted hornbill is bare skin. Image: Doug Janson / wikipedia
The cheeks of the helmeted hornbill are brown, most of the feathers are blackish brown, the belly, underparts of the wings and tips of the flight feathers are white, and most of the tail feathers are also white, with only a black band near the tips. The tail feather form of the helmeted hornbill differs from that of all other species in the family Bucerotidae,with the central tail feathers especially elongated, reaching up to 1 m, far longer than the other tail feathers.
A helmeted hornbill in flight; note its especially long central tail feathers. Image: Michelle and Peter Wong / orientalbirdimages.org
Unlike the small African hornbills, which are more adaptable, Asian hornbillshave relatively demanding requirements for their living environment, and almost all species are highly dependent on mature tropical rainforest; the helmeted hornbill is no exception.
Although the helmeted hornbill has huge wings, itis not good at flying. When hornbills fly they appear especially laborious, flapping slowly and clumsily, and their speed is hard to describe; fortunately, their long tail controls direction, so their maneuverability is still acceptable.
Although the helmeted hornbill is a climbing bird, in fact they are not good at climbing. Theirfeet are disproportionately short and small, with almost only grasping ability and no ability to walk, so they often perch in one place without moving.
A helmeted hornbill resting in the forest. Image: Tim Laman / naturepl.com
Like other large hornbills, the helmeted hornbill is anomnivore, mainly feeding on plant-based food. Although plant fruits can fully meet its daily needs, the helmeted hornbill is not satisfied with that; it spends half of each day searching for various small animals, such as lizards, snakes, squirrels and small birds, butbecause its movements are clumsy, the results are often minimal, and in half a day it cannot catch much prey. In addition, the helmeted hornbill uses its thick, straight bill to peck open bark and look for insects inside tree trunks.
Raising young is not easy
Because food is abundant year-round in the rainforests of Southeast Asia, the helmeted hornbill can breed throughout the year. Hornbills have high requirements for a mate, butonce paired, they stay together for life, unless one of them dies. The helmeted hornbill usually nests in tree holes in tall trees. After finding a suitable nest site, the female lays 1-2 eggs, then from inside the hole usesexcrement mixed with mud and twigsto seal the entrance, leaving only a vertical hole.
A male helmeted hornbill feeding the female in the cavity. Image: Tim Laman / naturepl.com
During this period most of the female's feathers fall out and she no longer leaves the hole; the male forages each day to feed the female and the young. The female breaks open the sealed wall shortly after the young hatch and by then has regrown her feathers. After the female leaves the nest, the young seal the entrance again, after which both parents feed them together. The helmeted hornbill is a large bird, and the entirebreeding period lasts as long as 4 months; during this time the male must constantly travel between the nest and foraging sites until the young leave the nest. The eyes of immature helmeted hornbills aregrayish-white, like dead fish eyes, while the eyes of adults are reddish brown.
Outside the breeding season, helmeted hornbills move in pairs and remain in the same territory all year round. The male guards this territory, and when members of the same species intrude, theyram each other with the casques on their bills, a fighting method unique among hornbills. It is precisely because of this unique use that the casque of the helmeted hornbill also has a different structure from that of other hornbills.
The interior of most hornbill casques is loose bony fibers and relatively lightweight in texture, but the helmeted hornbill is different: although its casque is also filled with a similar structure, it is wrapped on the outside by a layer ofdense, hard and heavy keratin shell, and the casque can weigh up to 10% of body weight.
Loose bony fibers inside and a keratin shell outside. Image: scienceblogs.com
Ivory among birds, where is its future
Yet it is precisely this distinctive casque that has brought fatal disaster upon the helmeted hornbill. The casque of the helmeted hornbill is golden yellow in color, similar in texture to ivory, and easy to carve; since ancient times it has been an excellent material for making handicrafts. In collecting circles,the casque of the helmeted hornbill is a collectible as famous as rhino horn and ivory, and because its color is red and lustrous like the red crown of a crane, it is calledhelmeted hornbill ivory. It is precisely because of the pursuit by countless collectors that large numbers of helmeted hornbills have been killed and their skulls made into playthings.
"Exquisite" carved works. Common helmeted hornbill ivory products in the cultural plaything market also include bead bracelets; the cover image of this article comes from a certain cultural plaything trading post. Image: bombasticborneo.com
The helmeted hornbill, accustomed to a comfortable life, simply cannot withstand such high-intensity hunting. Since the 20th century, the number of helmeted hornbills has plummeted, and as human claws reach deeper and deeper into the rainforest, even remote habitats cannot serve as a barrier to protect their survival. Because hornbills generally perch above the forest canopy dozens of meters high, hunters on the ground cannot see them clearly, which has led to many other species of hornbills also being shot down.
The rhinoceros hornbill, caught in the crossfire. Image: Rhinoceros Hornbill / Flickr
Southeast Asia, where Asian hornbills are relatively numerous, is also the region with the most severe rainforest destruction in the world. As large areas of primary forest are cut down, there are fewer and fewer large trees suitable for hornbills to live and breed in, which for the helmeted hornbill, already facing annihilation, is undoubtedly adding frost to snow.
Because its numbers declined too rapidly, in 2015 the IUCN upgraded the helmeted hornbill from Near Threatened (NT) directly toCritically Endangered(CR). The captive population of the helmeted hornbill is extremely small, and whenthe last helmeted hornbill is hunted down, that will also be when this species disappears from the Earth。
A large number of helmeted hornbill skulls confiscated by Indonesian police. Image: phys.org
The helmeted hornbill is listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and in Chinait is equivalent to a national first-class protected animal. Even so, Chinese customs intercept large quantities of smuggled helmeted hornbill skulls every year, sometimes as few as dozens, sometimes as many as hundreds. Behind every product is the result of a helmeted hornbill being devoured by human greed. Perhaps many collectors do not know thathidden behind the golden carvings is a startling blood-red。