A family of birds of tropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia with a long, down-curved, often colourful bill, sometimes topped by a hollow casque. They range from 32 cm to about 1.3 m long, eat fruit and small animals, and nest as monogamous pairs in holes in trees.
Quick answers
What is it?Bird
Carnivore?Omnivore
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Daytime
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inAfrica, Asia
HabitatForest, Grassland
ColoursBlack, White, Yellow
SizeLarge
Length32 cm to about 1.3 m; helmeted hornbill may exceed 1.5 m
Weight99 g (black dwarf) to 6.3 kg (southern ground)
Legs2
Covered inFeathers
Lives inpairs
Lives for35–50 years
Can fly
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent east to the Philippines and the Solomon Islands. No genus lives in both Africa and Asia.
- What it eats
- Fruit, insects and small animals. Forest species mostly eat fruit; open-country species eat more animals.
Did you know
The female seals herself inside a tree hole and the male feeds her through a slit.
They are the only birds whose first two neck vertebrae are fused, probably to carry the heavy bill.
Helmeted hornbills use their solid casques as battering rams in mid-air jousts.
Often confused with
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