Eastern Yellow-billed Hornbill is also nicknamed “flying banana” because of its beak Physical.
Eastern yellow-billed hornbills have black wings with white-spotted wing-coverts. They have a black tail and a sizeable yellow beak with a slight casque. They have black, bare skin around the eye, and males have a pink-skinned throat. They grow up to 16-18” in length and weigh up to 6 to 10 ounces. Its diet is mainly based on seeds, small insects, spiders, scorpions, termites, and ants.
Habitat & Range: North-eastern Africa, they live in dry thorn fields, broad-leafed woodlands, forests, savannahs, and shrublands
Life Span: various sources estimate from 20-40 years in the wild, 50 in captivity.
Perils in the wild: Crowned eagles, leopards, chimpanzees, humans, habitat destruction
Physical Adaptations:
- Strong beak to crack seeds and find insects
- Hornbills have huge, two-tiered beaks that cause the birds to appear top-heavy. The bill is long, forming dexterous forceps. The cutting edges are serrated for breaking up food.
- The hornbill is one of the few birds with eyelashes to shield them from sun, dust, and debris. Their eyelashes are modified feathers.
- The stocky body has air sacs under the skin over the back and shoulder area, which may cushion the female from injury in her cramped nest.
- The tail is utilized as a rudder in flight. It also serves as a prop, bracing the male while he clings to the nest-hole entrance.
- Strong feet provide a secure grip, particularly for the male as he perches to feed his mate through the slit in the nest hole.
- Only bird group (hornbills) in which the first two neck vertebrae are fused to support the skull