Dave Taylor's African Safari: Trophic Level III: Omnivores and Small Carnivores - Black-and-white Casqued Hornbill

Trophic Level III: Omnivores and Small Carnivores
Black-and-white Casqued Hornbill
Page 26

Ceratogymna subcylindricus

Length: 75 cm (30")

Status: Common

Habitat: In general, the black-and-white casqued hornbill is found at altitudes of less than

2 600 meters (8,530 feet). It is found in rainforests and along forest edges.

In the Serengeti-Mara, it is found wherever there are sufficient groves of large trees. Riverine forests provide suitable habitat.

Food: Black-and-white casqued hornbills eat insects, bats and birds. To get at insects, it tears bark off trees. Bats and birds are captured when they are roosting. This hornbill crashes through tree top branches, chasing its prey.

Social System/Behavior: (Note: A casque is a very light structure over the bill. It is filled with hard, sponge-like tissue.)

The courting male presents his "bride" with a piece of bark. If she accepts it, the pair will mate. Working together, both sexes seal up the nest cavity which will be 9 to 30 meters (30 to 90 feet) up a tree. Before completing the seal, the female enters and is sealed in.

In the nest, she will lay two eggs which she, alone, incubates for about 42 days. The chicks leave the nest about 80 days after hatching. In total, the female will have been imprisoned almost 17 weeks. The male feeds her and the chicks.

When she is not "locked up", the pair can usually be seen sitting on dead branches well up in the canopy of the forest.

Predators: Eagle owls and other large birds of prey will sometimes be lucky enough to catch one of these hornbills. Predation on adult birds is low.

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