📸 PhotoPhoto: Shantanu Kuveskar · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Great Hornbill
Buceros bicornis (Great Hornbill · オオサイチョウ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Local people use the casque as an ornament and also hunt the bird for meat and feathers (ADW).
- 💡 Although kept in many zoos around the world, captive breeding generally does not succeed (ADW).
- 💡 Its maximum wingspan of 1.78 m is similar to an adult human's height (Comparison).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The great hornbill is a large bird 95–120 cm long, most famous for the hollow 'casque' resting on top of its large bill. It lives in trees and prefers wet evergreen forests.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body, head, and wings are black while its belly, neck, and tail are white with a black band across the tail. Males have red irises and females have white ones, and the casque is thought to be used in fights between males or to attract females.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It mainly eats fruits such as figs and also takes small mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and insects. It uses cavities in tall emergent trees above the forest canopy as nests year after year, helping forests spread by dispersing seeds.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List VU (2020) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22682453/184603863
- • IUCN Red List category VU — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • doi.org — avilist.v2026
- • iucnredlist.org — 184603863
- • wikidata.org — Q232768
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Great hornbill Photograph by Shantanu Kuveskar.jpg
- • animaldiversity.org — Buceros bicornis
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · Public Domain Mark 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.