The animal collection of Feldman Ecopark has been broadened with the new exotic birds – two couples of southern ground hornbills. The birds were brought from a private zoo, underwent the necessary quarantine, and this weekend, the visitors to the Social and Humanitarian Multi-Complex will be able to admire them.
“They are very interesting creatures – big, beautiful and clever. They like to search for different objects, play, communicate with congeners and people. In Africa, their natural habitat, these birds are esteemed for their intellect and powerful voice – at dawn, their “singing” in savannah may be confused with the lion’s one,” the head of the bird department in Feldman Ecopark Volodymyr Perekhodovych told. “Ground hornbills are predators. They are able to eat any small animal they can catch. Here, they also eat mainly meat, which we hide in special feeders all over the enclosure for the ‘hunting’ to be more interesting. The representatives of this species of birds appeared here for the first time. Considering the fact that they are long-livers, we hope for the appearing of their offspring some day – they breed in captivity, although it happens rarely.”
The name of the southern ground hornbill, whose natural habitat is in Southern and Eastern Africa, was given to the birds for their black plumage and horn-shaped beak. It is the biggest representative of the family of hornbills. The body length of an adult bird reaches 120 cm, the females weigh 4kg, and the male – 6 kg. Southern ground hornbills is one of the longest-lived (more than 60 years) and rarely breeding (once in 3 years) of all birds. The species is in the IUCN Red List as vulnerable.
It should be reminded that the animal collection of Feldman Ecopark currently includes nearly a 1,000 birds of different species. It should be also reminded that in April 2018, 1,000 pheasants and more than 1,200 forest songbirds (Eurasian siskins, common redpolls, forest canaries and others) were released to their natural habitat.
