Rufous-necked hornbill
| Rufous-necked hornbill | |
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| An adult male (♂) from Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary in West Bengal, India. | |
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| An adult female (♀) from Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary in West Bengal, India. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Bucerotiformes |
| Family: | Bucerotidae |
| Genus: | Aceros |
| Species: | A. nipalensis |
| Binomial name | |
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Aceros nipalensis (Hodgson, 1829) |
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The rufous-necked hornbill (Aceros nipalensis) is a species of hornbill in the northeastern India, especially in Arunachal Pradesh, Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Numbers have declined significantly due to habitat loss and hunting, and it has been entirely extirpated from Nepal. It is estimated that there are now less than 10,000 adults remaining. With a length of about 117 centimetres (46 in), it is among the largest Bucerotine hornbills. The underparts, neck and head are rich rufous in the male, but black in the female.
The head, neck, and lower body of the male are coloured rufous, with deeper colouration on the flanks and abdomen. The middle primaries and the lower half of the tail are tipped white. The rest of the hornbill's plumage is a glossy dark-green and black. The lower tail-covert feathers are coloured chestnut mixed with black.
The female, on the other hand, is black, except for the end-portion of her tail and the tips of the middle primaries, which are white. Juvenile hornbills resemble adults of the same sex, but lack the ridges at the base of the upper beak.
The beak lacks a true caique but is thickened at its base. It has a number of dark ridges on the upper beak which are absent in the young and increase in number with age up to about seven. The commissure of the beaks is broken for both sexes.
Of all hornbills, this species has the northern-most extent, formerly ranging across the mountains from Nepal to Vietnam, but which is now restricted to north-eastern India, Bhutan, Burma, south-eastern Tibet, northern and western Thailand, northern Laos and northwestern Vietnam.
In India, the hornbill has been recorded from the following protected areas:
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Wikipedia