by Basten Gokkon on 23
October 2017
A recent survey has found a high
concentration of near-extinct helmeted hornbills in a conservation area in
western Borneo.
This “hornbill paradise” is
currently not included in the IUCN range map for this particular species.
Conservationists have called for
the map to be updated, for more research in the area, and for stronger law
enforcement to protect the distinctive bird.
A conservation area in western
Borneo holds an unexpectedly rich population of the helmeted hornbill, a bird
driven close to extinction by poaching for its distinctive casqued beak, a
field survey has found.
A research team from the
conservation group Planet Indonesia recorded over 50 visual and audio
detections of the hornbill during its yearlong survey in the protected area in
northwestern Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo.
The discovery indicated a large
concentration of the helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax
vigil), said Adam Miller, executive director of the NGO, in a statement.
While Borneo in general is known
to be a habitat of the species, Miller pointed out that his
team’s findings were the first to detect the bird’s presence in the protected
region.
“When we found the helmeted
hornbill … we could not believe it,” Miller wrote in a separate email. “We had
not expected this rainforest to be so rich with hornbills.”
Stretching across 1,800 square
kilometers (695 square miles) of forested area, the remote landscape covers
three administrative districts and connects to a national park in Malaysia’s
Sarawak state.
Other than the helmeted hornbill,
Miller said, the region contains seven other hornbill species: the oriental
pied hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris),
the bushy-crested hornbill (Anorrhinus
galeritus), the wreathed hornbill (Rhyticeros
undulatus), the black hornbill (Anthracoceros malayanus), the white-crowned
hornbill (Berenicornis comatus), the
rhinoceros hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros)
and the wrinkled hornbill (Rhabdotorrhinus
corrugatus).
“This landscape is indeed a
hornbill paradise,” Miller said.
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