In Baby Jac there's hope for hornbills February 14 2009 at 08:57AM By Sheree Bega A two-month-old southern ground hornbill is the first of his kind after his hand-reared mother was released into the wild and laid the egg from which he emerged. Baby Jac's birth is what Ann Turner and her team at the Mabula Game Reserve in Limpopo have waited more than a decade for, because the endangered turkey-sized birds have previously bred only in captivity. There are about 1 500 ground hornbills left in South Africa. "It's a lovely feeling," says Turner, "but it was mixed with fear. We didn't know if the egg was going to hatch, if the mother was going to raise the chick, and now, if the bird is going to fledge". Next week, Baby Jac is set to embark on his maiden flight. But Turner is anxious because his parents' nest is 8 metres from the ground, where he will descend to forage. "He must have strength in his wings to fly to the ground for the first time, it's pretty frightening," Turner says. "If he goes head first, we'll have an absolute fit. "And he'll be out on the reserve where it's not safe as it is in the nest. "You have to be very brave to do reintroductions," adds Turner. But Jac's birth proves that the project's reintroduction techniques are a success. Turner started the Mabula ground hornbill conservation project to save the birds from extinction. They collect the second egg from nests, hand-raise the chick and then release the adult into the wild. The parents lay two eggs in case the first doesn't hatch. But they rear only one chick. "Two need too much food," Turner says. "When a chick is ready to fledge, we put it in with wild groups at Mabula. They teach it about predators, how to find food as well as the complicated social structure of ground hornbills." "The project is very long term," says Turner, "because they breed so slowly. Ground hornbills aren't sexually mature until they're 10. There's only one female in each group of about eight that is breeding". "That means there are probably about 80 breeding females, who rear one egg every nine years." Half of South Africa's population of ground hornbills are in the Kruger Park the rest are scattered across the country, where they have lost 60 percent of their habitat to urbanisation and alien tree plantations. The species are also threatened by poisoning, traditional medicine and electrocution. But there is hope in Baby Jac. His parents will stay close and they will feed him for another two years still. a.. This article was originally published on page 10 of Saturday Star on February 14, 2009

Hornbills are very distinctive birds, often seen in aviaries and zoos as well as on television nature programmes. Their generally large size, bold pied colouring and noisy manner make them obvious birds in many habitats. Besides all this though it is their oversized beaks often decorated with large casques and their unusual breeding habits that make them truly fascinating.

There are 54 species of Hornbills in the world. They comprise the order Bucerotiformes which is sub-divided into 2 families and 9 genera. Hornbills are strictly 'old world' birds meaning their range extends from Africa across India and Asia to Papua New Guinea. They do not occur in the Americas where a similar ecological niche of medium sized species is filled by Toucans. Hornbills come in a large range of sizes from the small Dwarf Red-billed Hornbill (Tockus camurus) weighing in at 111 grams to the Great Southern Ground Hornbill (Bucorvus leadbeateri) standing nearly 3 ft tall and weighing 4190 grams.

Hornbills occupy a wide variety of habitat from the Namib Desert to the lushest S. E. Asian tropical rainforest. They have been known to mankind for a long time and feature in many ancient customs and myths. Also, the distinctive features given to their skulls by their large beaks and casques has resulted in these skulls being used in ceremonial head gear. In ancient Rome they were known as Rhinoceros birds.

Hornbills are the only birds in which the first two vertebrae (the axis and atlas) are fused together. They are also the only bird with a two-lobed kidney - all other birds having a three-lobed kidney.

Thank you for highlighting the plight of the brown teal. The Pateke is not as widely known as the more well-publicised endangered kokako, kiwi and kakapo, and it is important that more people are aware of the recovery plan. I was lucky enough to see a Pateke in a wild bird sanctuary in Wellington - I felt very privileged to get so close to this rare bird.