Sunda Wrinkled Hornbill

Scientific Name: Aceros corrugatus Animal Type: Bird Location: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand. Conservation Status: Near Threatened

Profile

These striking birds from Asia are vital to the ecology of their native forests as they are important seed dispersers.  They are surprisingly adept at using their large bills to feed on fruit, insects and small animals.

Although their lowland forest homes have suffered extensive destruction, particularly in Indonesia, they seem able to thrive higher up in the hills, where there is less pressure on the forests, and so overall they are not thought to be at high risk as yet.  However, in Thailand these beautiful birds may already be close to extinction.

Males and females are easy to tell apart, as males have blue skin around their eyes and bright yellow feathers on the head and chest.  They usually pair for life, nesting in tree cavities where the female seals herself in, leaving only a small hole for the male to pass food through.  Incubating the eggs and rearing the chicks takes about three months.

Wrinkled hornbills first arrived at Durrell in 2001.  We hope that by providing nesting sites similar to the holes they use in the wild, we will soon be celebrating our first successful breeding.  The techniques we learn can then be applied to other endangered hornbill species.