Anthracoceros+albirostris

ORIENTAL PIED HORNBILL Anthracoceros albirostris (Shaw, 1808)

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= **DESCRIPTION ** =

I. JUVENILE
 Similar to adult, but the casque is reduced to a raised knife-edge on the bill, which is pale yellowish-green, with no black markings.

II.ADULTS


**Colour **: Basically a black-and-white bird: mostly black with a white belly and thighs, and white accents around the eye, on the wing tips and tail. **Trademark **: Large, long bill. Adults have a casque (a knob on top of the bill) which is yellow-white. The male has a larger casque with few black marks, while the female has a smaller casque with more black marks. **Size **: This species is the smallest among Asian hornbills, with males measuring from tip of bill to tip of tail 55-60cm and females being slightly smaller. The wing length ranges from 23-36cm, the bill up to 19cm in males and up to 16cm in females.

=**DIAGNOSIS **= <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">There are currently five recognised species under the genus Anthracoceros. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">//A. albirostris// was long considered to be conspecific with //A. coronatus// and the two species have been confused several times since their first discovery in the 1800s, leading to synonymy of common and scientific names. //A. albirostris// is smaller than //A. coronatus//, has less black on casque and pale blue (instead of pink-tinged) throat skin. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">(Malabar pied hornbill) || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Restricted to central and southern India, and Sri Lanka || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Evergreen forest, tall deciduous forest, also more open patches of forest and plantations. Sometimes seen at fruiting trees well outside forest. Confined to land under 300m. || * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Black plumage with white belly <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">(Oriental pied hornbill) || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> || <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">A widespread resident in northern South Asia, southern China, Indochina and western Indonesia || <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 1.5;">Open habitat such as forest edge, clearings and secondary forest. Occurs up to 700m. || * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 1.5;">Black and white plumage with white patch under the eye, white lower belly, thighs, and undertail coverts, white tips to flight feathers and white outer tail feathers || <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Least concern || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">(Black hornbill) || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Confined to the Sundaic lowlands of peninsular Thailand, Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia, Kalimantan and Sumatra, Indonesia and Brunei || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Lowland primary evergreen forest. Usually below 200m. || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">__Male__ * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 1.5;">Black plumage
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Species ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Picture ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Distribution ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Habitat ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Brief description ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Global conservation status ** ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Anthracoceros coronatus
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Yellowish-white throat patch, white tail sides and trailing edge to the wings
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Bill pale yellow with black cutting edges and base
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Huge casque with projecting front edge, coloured yellow and black
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Red eyes || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Near threatened ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Anthracoceros albirostris
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Bill and casque yellow-white with black spots on base of lower mandible and front of casque
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Iris: dark brown
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Naked skin around eye and gular skin-white
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Anthracoceros malayanus
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Long tail with broad white tips on outer tail feathers
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">White or pale grey superciliary stripe, variable, can also be dark grey or absent
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Pale yellow bill and casque
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Blue-black bare skin around eye and small throat patch

__<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Female __ || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Near threatened || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">(Palawan hornbill) || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Endemic to Palawan and its satellite islands in Philippines || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Forests, mangrove swamps, cultivated land, bushland, secondary growth and mountain forest. Occurs up to 900m. || * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">All-black plumage <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">(Sulu hornbill) || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Endemic to three islands in the Sulu archipelago in southern Philippines. || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Evergreen forest in lowlands and highlands. || * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">All black plumage
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Smaller than male
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Black bill and smaller casque
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Yellowish-flesh to pinkish circumorbital skin
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Yellow-buff throat patch
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Anthracoceros marchei
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">White tail
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Pale ivory-yellow casque and bill
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Black base to lower mandible
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">White bare skin around eye and on throat
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Red eye with black orbital ring || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Vulnerable ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Anthracoceros montani
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">White tail
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Black bill and blade-like casque
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Black bare skin around eye and on throat || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Critically endangered ||

=**<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%; line-height: 1.5;">BIOLOGY **=

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 1.5;">I. FEEDING HABITS
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">The Oriental pied hornbills are omnivorous. Food is usually brought by the male and consist of fruits, insects like beetles and crickets, spiders, lizards and even newly hatched bird chicks (Banwell & Lim, 2009). These are generally what hornbills eat, as well as what they feed their chicks (Collar, 2001). By volume, fruits predominated, with figs from the bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa) constituting a significant quantity <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 16px;">(Banwell & Lim, 2009) <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 1.5;">.
 * [[image:fruit.jpg caption="Male oriental pied hornbill regurgitating fruits at the nest. Photo by: Jeff Lim"]] || [[image:chick.jpg caption="Male oriental pied hornbill with a dead chick. Photo by: Howard Banwell"]] ||

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">II. REPRODUCTION
<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Mating begins with courtship feeding, as the male offers the female a fruit or an animal prey. Courtship may also include interlocking of bills. The male will then entice the female to enter an appropriate cavity in an old tree with food. If successful, they will proceed to seal off the entrance with a plaster of mud and fibres. This is done by the male gathering and delivering earth to the female, which seals herself inside the cavity. A narrow slit is left open so that he can feed her and the chicks. This remarkable behaviour is believed to deter large predators. After a period of about 3 months when the chicks are about to fledge, the female will break open the seal and emerge. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Breeding season: During the dry season, from February to May (Poonswad et al., 1987). On average, the number of nestlings that fledge per season is low, with only 1.5 chicks per pair of Oriental pied hornbills (Poonswad et al., 1999).
 * [[image:http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/3408/1802/400/971620/111.jpg width="476" height="302" align="left" caption="Courtship feeding between a pair of Oriental pied hornbills. Photo by: Chan Yoke Meng http://www.besgroup.org"]] || [[image:http://www.besgroup.org/wp-content/uploads/17-oph-interlock6.jpg width="458" height="349" align="center" caption="Courtship mating - Interlocking of bills. Photo by: Lim Poh Bee http://www.besgroup.org"]] || [[image:http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7143/1346/400/12%20sp%20hornbill%2C%20c%27ship%20feed%2C%20ChangiV%200906%20%5BMeng%5D%20.jpg width="439" height="313" align="left" caption="Male hornbill trying to entice the female to enter the cavity with food. Photo by: Chan Yoke Meng"]] ||
 * [[image:http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sBNve8BzRN8/Rbh6h8FLvDI/AAAAAAAABGE/MYjufe_QR9c/s400/Untitled-1.jpg width="486" height="343" align="left" caption="Male hornbill trying to entice his female to enter the nesting cavity. Photo by: Angie Ng http://besgroup.blogspot.sg"]] || [[image:http://mygreenspace.nparks.gov.sg/wp-content/uploads/OPH-2011-Mar-TWJ-1024x680.jpg width="544" height="368" align="left" caption="An Oriental pied hornbill with its mate sealed up in a natural cavity. Photo by Wong Tuan Wah http://mygreenspace.nparks.gov.sg"]] || [[image:Picture5.jpg width="495" height="327" caption="Male Oriental pied hornbill feeding his chicks. Photo by: Howard Banwell"]] ||

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">III. VOICE
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Recording of flight call by Abidur Rahman media type="file" key="Anthracoceros+albirostris_Rahman2010_IN_85_0-38_1_C.mp3" width="240" height="20" align="left"

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Sonogram of recording

=**<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;">HABITAT **= <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 1.5;">Forest edges and open moist deciduous and evergreen forests, from foothills up to 670m.

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=<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 170%;">Do YOU know? =



<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">#1 Hornbills are practically "air-heads"...
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">The bill is not as heavy as it seems. It is not made of solid bone, but of a honeycombed tissue. Even the casque is hollow and composed of the same keratin which lines the entire bill.



<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">#2 The Oriental pied hornbills can breed in urban habitats!
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">While hornbills are mostly forest birds, the Oriental pied hornbill is an exception (Poonswad, 1995). As long as there is sufficient food and large mature trees for nesting, it is able to survive around human habitation (Chong, 1998). From current observations, it would appear that a noisy, busy urban environment poses no barrier to the selection of a nesting site and to successful breeding. Far more problematic for the hornbills would be the availability of a suitable and large enough tree cavity in which to nest.





<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">#3 Beware of flying "bombs"...
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">While the female Oriental pied hornbill is sealed inside the tree cavity, she does not soil the nest but turn around, push her rump to the cavity entrance and defecate forcefully into the air! It is believed that she also clears the droppings of her chicks on a frequent but irregular basis (Banwell & Lim, 2009). When the chicks are grown up, they defecate frequently out of the nest just like their mother did. Whether this is a natural instinct or learned from watching the mother, it is impossible to say.

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=<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%; line-height: 1.5;">**DISTRIBUTION** =

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">I. GLOBAL
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%;">Globally, the native range of //A. albirostris// stretches across the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, which includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Singapore, Thailand, Tibet, and Vietnam.



<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">II. SINGAPORE
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">In Singapore, //A. albirostris// is mainly distributed in Changi, Pulau Ubin and St John's Island. It has also been introduced into Singapore Botanic Gardens and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.



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=<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%; line-height: 1.5;">ECOLOGY =

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 1.5;">I. ROLE IN THE ENVIRONMENT
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">As hornbills swallow fruits with large seeds, the latter are regurgitated up to an hour later. With small seeds, these may be passed out with the faeces. As such, they are important seed dispersers, especially for seeds that are too big for smaller birds to eat, and play an important role in the health of the forest.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">II. ECOLOGICAL FACTORS THAT AFFECT THE SUCCESS OR FAILURE OF REPRODUCTION
> pied hornbill and Brown hornbill) (Poonswad et al., 1999). Animals other than the hornbills themselves also competed for cavities; these included bees (Apis sp.), resinous bees (Trigona sp.), wasps (Vespa sp.) monitor lizards (Varanus sp.), Red Giant Flying Squirrels (Petaurista petaurista) and King Cobra (Ophiophaga hannah) (Poonswad et al., 1999).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">__**Climate**__: Drought seems to be an important trigger of the breeding onset of hornbills (Poonswad et al., 1999). They nest during the relatively driest months and prefer dry conditions in the nest cavity. In a study conducted by Poonswad and co-workers (1999), at least 3 known nests of Oriental pied hornbills were abandoned due to floods.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">**__Availability of nest cavities and nest loss__**: The most important factor limiting the reproduction of hornbills is the availability of nest cavities, which they cannot excavate by themselves (Poonswad et al., 1999). If nest conditions remained suitable and there was no competition or disturbance, hornbills tended to reuse old nest cavities year after year. However, natural breakage of nest trees by storms accounted for as much as 53.8% of total nest loss, whereas occasional cutting of nest trees by poachers further reduced the availability of suitable nest cavities by 15.4% (Poonswad et al., 1999).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">__**Intra- and interspecific competition for nest cavities**__: As the number of suitable cavities were limited, it resulted in intra- and interspecific competition for nest cavities among the 4 sympatric hornbill species (Great hornbill, Wreathed hornbill, Oriental
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">__**Food**__: Greater food diversity may enhance breeding success by as much as 91% in the Oriental pied hornbills (Poonswad et al., 1999).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">__**Predation**__: Hornbills are known to be preyed upon by some arboreal mammals such as the Yellow-throated Marten (Martes flavigula) (Poonswad et al., 1999). In addition to preying on hornbills, the Yellow-throated Martens also caused the birds to abandon their nests (Poonswad et al., 1999).

=<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%; line-height: 1.5;">THREATS = <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 1.5;">The survival of the Oriental pied hornbills is closely associated with the quality of their environment. Deforestation in the region and overall human pressure on the environment has posed real threat to the local survival of the species. It was recently noted that this species has been almost completely extirpated from southern China. In the Thai-Malay Peninsula, the species may be threatened by off-take for the trade in fledglings and outright forest clearance. There is some evidence that the species has traditionally been captured for the local pet trade, as historically one to two were reportedly kept in every village in at least some areas of Myanmar. The casques of Oriental pied hornbills are common souvenirs in the markets of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam; however, the extent of this trade has not been measured.

=<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%; line-height: 1.5;">CONSERVATION STATUS =

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">I. GLOBAL
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">The Internation Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists //A. albirostris// as a taxon of __"Least Concern"__ due to its large distribution range and stable population trend.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">II. SINGAPORE
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">The Singapore Red Data book currently records A. albirostris as __"Critically Endangered (CR)"__. This category criterion is that "There are lesser than 50 mature individuals, OR if more than 50 mature individuals but less than 250, with some evidence of decline or fragmentation" (Davison et al., 2008).

=<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;">THE ORIENTAL PIED HORNBILL IN SINGAPORE =

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Singapore had its own native Oriental pied hornbills in the 19th century (Gibson-Hill, 1949) until about the 1920s (Robinson, 1927). Due to rapid development and large-scale deforestation, the species appeared to have gone extinct locally until the 1960s when it was irregularly sighted on Singapore island. These birds were thought to be escapees from the wild bird trade (Wang & Hails, 2007). There were two subspecies believed to be breeding in Singapore, the northern pied hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris albirostris) and southern pied hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris convexus). In the early 1990s, a pair of hornbills belonging to the convexus subspecies was found to be breeding in the offshore island of Pulau Ubin, and it was speculated that they have flown from the nearby Johore state of Peninsular Malaysia (Lim, 1994; Wee & Subaraj, 2006; Wang & Hails, 2007).



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=<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%;">TAXONOMY =

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">II. ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION
==<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;"> == <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Original description of //A. albirostris// (page 13-15). Extracted from Shaw, G. [1800]. Image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; line-height: 1.5;">[|http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org].

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">III. TYPE INFORMATION
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Not available

**<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">IV. PHYLOGENETICS **
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Bayesian concensus trees of hornbills (90-100% species coverage) derived from aligned sequences of (A)nuclear loci AK1 intron 5 and (B)mtDNA cyt b. Numbers and circles on nodes indicate posterior probabilities (PP), with black circles indicating strong support at ≥0.98 PP, and open circles indicating moderate support at ≥0.90-0.97 PP. //A. albirostris// is shown in the shaded red box (Gonzalez et al., 2013).

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Maximum parsimony (MP) 50% majority rule bootstrap consensus of hornbills (100% species coverage) from the combined analysis of mtDNA (cyt b) and nuclear DNA (AK1 intron 5). //<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; line-height: 1.5;">A. albirostris //<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; line-height: 1.5;">is shown in the shaded red box (Gonzalez et al., 2013).

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">There were minor inconsistencies between clade-level topologies in the nuclear DNA tree and the mtDNA tree. Specifically, Bucerotinae was subdivided into 6-7 clades in the nuclear tree and slightly simplified to 5 prominent clades in the mtDNA and concatenated trees (Gonzalez //et al.//, 2013).

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">The nuclear tree suggests that //Ocyceros// and //Anthracoceros// are reciprocally monophyletic (boxed in red), whereas the mtDNA tree recovered polyphyly of both genera (boxed in red). Concatenated trees were similarly inconsistent, with the "best" tree recovering monophyly (boxed in red), while all other analyses of the combined dataset suggested polyphyly. Further sampling of loci is needed to resolve the phylogenetic relationships between //Ocyceros// and //Anthracoceros// (Gonzalez //et al//., 2013).

=<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%; line-height: 1.5;">USEFUL LINKS = <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">[|http://eol.org] <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; line-height: 1.5;">[|http://www.iucnredlist.org] <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">[|http://www.wildsingapore.com] <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">[|http://www.birdlife.org] <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">[|http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg] <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">[|http://www.birdforum.net] <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">[|http://www.biodiversitylibrary.or]g <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; line-height: 1.5;">[|http://www.waza.org]

=<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 160%; line-height: 1.5;">REFERENCES = <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Avian Vocalizations Center, Oriental pied hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris). Retrieved Nov 28, 2013, from http://avocet.zoology.msu.edu/recordings/8559

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Banwell, H. M. & J. C. W. Lim, 2009. Observations on a successful nesting of a pair of oriental pied hornbills (Anthracoceros albirostris, Shaw & Nodd, 1790) at Changi Village, Singapore. Nature in Singapore, 2: 275-281.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">BirdForum, Anthracoceros. Retrieved Nov 19, 2013, from []

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Bird Ecology Study Group, Oriental pied hornbills. Retrieved Nov 12, 2013, from []

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">BirdLife International (2013) Species factsheet: Anthracoceros albirostris. Retrieved Nov 19, 2013, from []

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Chong, M. H. N., 1998. A survey of hornbills in rain forest habitats of Peninsular Malaysia. In: Poonswad, P. (ed.), The Asian Hornbills: Ecology and Conservation. Thai Studies in Biodiversity, 2: 1–336. Pp. 13–22.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Collar, N. J., 2001. Family Trogonidae (Trogons). In: del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott & J. Sargatal (eds.), Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 6. Mousebirds to Hornbills. Lynx Editions, Barcelona. Pp. 80–127.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Davison, G.W. H. and P. K. L. Ng and Ho Hua Chew, 2008. The Singapore Red Data Book: Threatened plants and animals of Singapore. Nature Society (Singapore). 285 pp.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Gibson-Hill, C. A., 1949. An annotated checklist of the birds on Malaya. Bulletin of the Raffles Museum, 20: 1–299.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Gonzalez, J.C., Sheldon, B.C., Collar, N.J. & Tobias, J.A. (2013) A comprehensive molecular phylogeny for the hornbills (Aves: Bucerotidae). Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 67, 468-483.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Lim, K. S., 1994. Oriental pied hornbill. Iora, 1: 156–158.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">National Parks Singapore, Hornbills in the Lion City. Retrieved Nov 12, 2013, from []

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Poonswad, P., Chimchome, V., Plongmai, K. & Chuilua, P. 1999. Factors influencing the reproduction of Asian hornbills. In: Adams, N.J. & Slotow, R.H. (eds) Proc. 22 Int. Ornithol. Congr., Durban: 1740-1755. Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Poonswad, P., Tsuji, A. & Ngampongsai, C. 1987. A comparative study on breeding biology of sympatric hornbill species (Bucerotidae) in Thailand with implication for breeding in captivity. In: Proceedings, Delacour/International Foundation for the Conservation of Birds; Symposium on breeding birds in captivity, February 11-15, 1987. North Hollywood: 250 - 315.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Poonswad, P. 1995. Nest site characteristics of four sympatric species of hornbills in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand. Ibis, 137: 183–191.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Robinson, H. C., 1927. The Birds of the Malay Peninsula. Volume I: The Commoner Birds. H. F. & G. Whiterby, London. 329 pp.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Robson, C. & Allen, R. (2008) A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand and South-East Asia. Asia Books.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Shaw, G. & Stephens, J.F. (1800) General zoology, or Systematic natural history. Printed for G. Kearsley, London,.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The IUCN Red list of Threatened Species, Anthracoceros albirostris. Retrieved Nov 12, 2013, from [] <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Wang, L. K. & C. J. Hails, 2007. An annotated checklist of the birds of Singapore. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supplement 15: 1−179.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Wee, Y. C. & R. Subaraj, 2006. Aberrant behaviour of a pair of female great and rhinoceros hornbills in Singapore. Birding Asia, 6: 18–22.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Wild Bird Club of the Philippines, Sulu hornbill. Retrieved Nov 19, 2013, from []