What else can these big-mouthed monsters with huge throat sacs do besides eating fish?

Today we are going to introduce a bird that looks very fancy.

Wrinkled Hornbill.

Although it looks black at first glance, it is still colorful.

Image source see watermark

In addition to this big bird, let's talk about the bird's throat pouch, which is the blue one in the picture above. Guess what this throat pouch is used for, courtship? Food storage? Or is it just a double chin?

The children all look like their father

The Crested Hornbill belongs to the genus Rhinoceros Hornbill of the family Rhinocerosbill in the order Scimitarri. It is mainly distributed in India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Indochina and the Malay Peninsula abroad. In China, it is currently only distributed in Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province.

In the newly revised "National Key Protected Wildlife List" in 2021, it is listed as a national first-class key protected wild animal . It is important to note that you cannot eat it, otherwise you will be imprisoned for life!

In March 1992, two peculiar hornbill specimens were found in Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province. They were identified as the wreathed hornbill, which had not been recorded in my country before. However, it was not possible to determine whether the specimens came from my country or neighboring Myanmar. It was not until 1996 that it was confirmed that the wreathed hornbill was indeed distributed in my country. Since then, the wreathed hornbill has officially entered the Chinese bird list and became the fifth hornbill distributed in my country. See watermark for the source of the picture

Not to mention whether to eat it or not, you may not be able to beat it even if you fight it (I don't mean to ask you to really fight, fighting is not good, especially not good). The crowned hornbill is a large bird, the male can be more than one meter long, and the female is generally slightly smaller. Moreover, it has a large beak that is slightly curved downward, and it looks like it is not easy to mess with.

nagging you

Image source: Wikipedia

Do you see the horizontal wrinkles on its mouth? The number of wrinkles is closely related to its age. The older it is, the more wrinkles it has. Feel your wrinkles, they are all traces of time.

Have you noticed that the birds in front look a little different? That's because they are of different genders. There is a clear difference in body color between adult male and female crowned hornbills:

The male bird is brown from the forehead to the back of the neck, with yellow-white cheeks, neck and chest, white tail feathers, and the rest of the body feathers are black. The throat pouch is bright yellow with a horizontal black stripe.

The female bird is black all over except for the white tail feathers. The throat sac is blue and also has a black stripe.

The male bird is on the left and the female bird is on the right

Image credit: Asep Ayat / cifor.org

In simple terms, the yellow throat pouch is male, and the blue throat pouch is female. However, this only applies to adult hornbills, and the chicks all look like their fathers . When female chicks grow to 15 months old, the light-colored feathers on their head, neck and chest begin to turn black, and the throat pouch gradually changes from yellow to blue.

The flying speed of the wreathed hornbill is not very fast, but they have no underwing coverts, so when they flap their wings, the airflow passes through the base of the flight feathers, making a loud noise that can be heard from a long distance. The local people think they are like airplanes, not only are they big, but they also make a loud noise when flying, so they call them "airplane birds". Image source see watermark

The throat pouches of male and female hornbills have different functions

Usually, the hornbills like to move in groups, looking for various fruits in the forest during the day and gathering on tall trees to rest at night. It is generally believed that when they are over two years old, the hornbills will start looking for a partner and fall in love, and when they grow up a little, they can lay eggs and raise babies.

Like most hornbills, female hornbills will lock themselves up at home to "confinement" during the breeding season: before laying eggs, the female hornbill will enter the tree hole in advance, and then the male hornbill will help "decorate" the nest, sealing the entrance and leaving only a small longitudinal crack for passing food.

From then on, the female hornbill will not leave the house. It will not lead the chicks out until more than four months later when their wings are fully grown. During this period, the male hornbill has to go out to find food to feed it and its children.

Pictured is a crowned hornbill in the zoo

Image source: Internet

The male hornbill will temporarily store the collected fruits in his throat pouch and then return to the nest entrance to spit them out to the female hornbill. He can bring back more than a hundred small fruits each time he forages.

So, the throat pouch is the male hornbill's "shopping bag"? But the female hornbill doesn't go out to "shop", so why does it also have a throat pouch, and why is its color completely different from the male's?

In fact, the crowned helmeted hornbill uses the throat pouch to carry fruits just to "make the best use of it". The throat pouches of the two sexes are completely different in color. It is more to show their own species, gender and age, and convey the correct identity information to their companions, which is conducive to the hornbills to identify their own kind, courtship and maintain social relationships.

So the question is, is this a male or female bird?

Image source: pinterest

What else can the laryngeal pouch do?

Many birds have laryngeal sacs, but their functions are different. Some birds use their laryngeal sacs mainly for courtship and are mostly made of loose skin. Some birds' laryngeal sacs will increase in size and change color under the action of hormones during the breeding season. Some birds will fill their laryngeal sacs with air to make them swell when courting.

When the Dalmatian pelican enters the breeding season, its throat sac turns bright red, so much so that medieval Europeans believed that pelicans would deliberately pierce their chests with their beaks and use the blood to feed their chicks...

The pelicans were scared!

Dalmatian Pelican: Thank you.

Image source: indiabiodiversity.org

But the most impressive display of the throat pouch is by the frigatebird . The frigatebird is a type of ocean-going seabird that breeds on distant islands. Male frigatebirds will "wait" at the selected nesting site. Whenever they see a female bird flying by, they will flap their wings, tilt their heads back, inflate their scarlet throat pouches, and make calls at the same time, trying their best to attract the attention of the female bird.

The throat pouch of a male frigatebird is inflated by air. When fully inflated, it looks like a big red balloon. From a distance, it looks like a bunch of exotic flowers blooming on a green island in the blue ocean. Image credit: Paul McFarling

So, are the throat pouches of birds just for show? Of course not. The throat pouches of pelicans are not just for show, they are the most important tool for their survival.

Pelicans usually hunt together: a group of pelicans swim in a row, drive the fish in the water to shallow water, and then they open their mouths wide and scoop the fish and water into their mouths. The pelican's throat pouch is huge and can hold up to 13 liters of water, but the pelican does not store food in the throat pouch. After they discharge the water, they will soon swallow the fish. The throat pouch is like a fishing net.

Pelican prey

Image source see watermark

The pelican's throat pouch is so large that it would be a waste of its ability to just eat fish. It will wait for cormorants, which are good at diving and fishing, to surface with a full load before "intercepting" the fish, or it will directly snatch the fish that herons and storks have just caught but have not had time to swallow, and it will even eat these birds directly.

White pelicans in South Africa will invade the breeding grounds of Boobies in South Africa, devour the defenseless Booby chicks, and then return to the nest to feed their own chicks; brown pelicans and Australian pelicans have been observed eating the chicks of their own species!

According to statistics, the birds that pelicans have eaten include: pigeons, seagulls, ducks, boobies, petrels, cormorants, cattle egrets, and even South African penguins.

Let’s take a look at the Pelican recipe below:

Is this popping candy?

Pigeon, eat it!

I can't bite it, forget it

This one is good.

What are you showing off for!

A pelican considers any living thing as a potential meal, as long as it can be swallowed!

Next time you go to the zoo, remember to keep your distance from these big-mouthed monsters with huge throat sacs.

References:

1. "Ornithology (2nd Edition)", edited by Zheng Guangmei, Beijing Normal University Press;

2. Encyclopedia of Birds, edited by Christopher Peiris, Heilongjiang Science and Technology Press;

3. "A New Record of Hornbills in China: The Wrinkled-Helmed Hornbill", Qu Wenzheng, Yang Lan;

4. "Discovery of the Wrinkled Hornbill", Han Lianxian;

5.Musk Duck | BirdLife Australia https://www.birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/musk-duck

6. Musk Duck - The Australian Museum https://australian.museum/learn/animals/birds/musk-duck-biziura-lobata/

7.10 Fun Facts About Pelicans | Mental Floss https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/515654/10-fun-facts-about-pelicans

8. Do Pelicans Eat Birds? - Exploration Squared https://explorationsquared.com/do-pelicans-eat-birds/

Written by Song Xiaomeng

WeChat Editor | Ah She Shuang

Source: Museum